Danny, Dan, and Daniel
by Paladin of Farore
Summary: PostPP: After the disasteroid Danny slowly gets used to being a known superhero, and dating Sam but then his two futures enter the picture, Now he must fight along side Daniel his good future self and defeat Dan once and for all or watch all he loves die
1. Chapter 1

This is my first DP fic, I do not own any of the characters, Butch Hartman and Billionfold do, but hey, a guy can dream cant he? Happy reading!

It was impossible to say who was the most surprised at the true identity of Danny Phantom. His parents, the famed ghost hunters Jack and Maddie fenton, who had hunted him relentlessly. His English teacher Mr. Lancer, who had thought that he just a lazy student who wasted his time procrastinating.

The quarterback of the Casper High football team, who had shoved Danny fenton into his locker so many times it had become nearly routine. Or Paulina Sanchez, who had called Danny a loser countless times and rejected him even more, who had also had a crush on his ghostly alter ego.

Or maybe it was the world at large that was most shocked, shocked at the revelation that the greatest hero any of them had ever know, the savior of the planet, was a sixteen year old boy. He, along with the hundreds of other ghosts he had rallied, joined together to save the world from a massive asteroid, dubbed the disasteroid, by turning the entire planet intangible, letting the massive rock pass right through.

People gaped at him, their mouths ajar in awe. Danny stood there nervous on the icy surface of the artic. Would his parents accept him for what he was?

Or would his worst fears come true? It started out slow, only a few people clapping. But within moments the whole crowd gathered around the ghostly hero erupted in cheers.

Everyone joined in, his parents, , Valerie, Tucker his best friend and his sister Jazz, and of course, Sam. Danny's heart pounded at the thought of what had occurred mere hours ago, when the two long time friends shared their first real kiss.

And for the first time in ages, Danny felt completely content, and the anxiety that had haunted him ever since he had acquired his powers vanished, and he felt truly happy.

But of course, peace would not last for the young hero. For whenever someone who stands for the cause of righteousness found peace, came to terms with his identity and found love, There was always a dark force, bent on ripping it apart. And turning the new found bliss, into eternal hell...

**LINEBREAK**

In another time altogether, where no such peace reigned, a lone figure flew quickly towards a floating clock tower in the distance. The ghost zone was now and complete utter chaos, not that it was all fun and games before. In the last year, nearly everything was left in ruins, ghosts and humans fled alike, all fearing the same terrible being.

There were not many ghosts who visited this area of the ghost zone, even when times were peaceful. Usually the only ones to ever come here were the one eyed observants, who ruled over the ghost zone and made sure things were kept in natural order. But this mans reason for visiting was for the master of the tower himself, Clockwork.

Inside the tower dozens of massive hourglasses line the walls, and many small golden pedants were stored on a rack on the opposite wall. The man walked through the halls of the tower, until he came to the central chamber, where stood the master of time himself, back turned, staring into a glassy orb viewing one of the countless time streams he controlled.

Beside him was a long table, where rested the cracked and shattered remnants of a metalic thermos.

"I was wondering when you would return here" Clockwork said without turning his head, his arms crossed. "I see that you've gained much strength, from some very odd places." He gestured to the variety of strange augmentations covering his body, including armor, and a large sword strapped to his back

The man's expression was nearly emotionless as he drew closer.

"I'm ready Clockwork, you know when I need to go." The ancient ghost nodded, waving his hand over the glassy orb in front of him. Instantly the scene changed, Clockwork stepped aside.

The man walked forward, staring into the orb, old memories both joyous and terrible flooding his mind. He turned to Clockwork.

"Do you think I can do it this time? Can I beat him?" He asked, sounding somewhat like a child, desperately asking for reassurance from a parent, his tone dripping with anxiety. Clockwork smiled.

"You know that what I _think _is not important Daniel, I have seen what will occur, and you know that I can not tell you. I will alter th- "

"Time stream" Daniel finished for him angrily. "I've heard that from you countless times, but it does nothing to encourage me." Clockwork smirked.

"The last year has change you significantly hasn't it?"

"Of course it has!" He nearly screamed back, pounding his fist on the table, shattering it to wood chips. "I have seen things that no man should ever have to see, and I'm here to make sure _he_ never has to see them!" he jabbed his finger at the teenage boy inside the orb, himself, twenty-one years ago. Clockwork placed a hand on Daniel Fenton's shoulder.

"You are braver than any one I have ever met or seen in all of time, your heart is pure, and you don't need me telling me that you will succeed. I know that you seek to prevent the deaths of your loved ones, your wife, children, but know that it is your fate, or should I say his fate" he pointed to Danny Phantom in the glass orb

Daniel smiled weakly.

"Everyone's fate huh, you sure know how to take the pressure off of someone." Clockwork chuckled.

"Here you'll need this", from his own robes the time master withdrew a small glass ball, and placed it in Daniel's hand.

"What's this?" he asked impatiently, sticking it in one of the many slots on his belt.

"The orb of memory, it will allow you to show your memories to anyone you wish, it may come in handy."

He nodded turning to the orb. He placed a hand inside his cloak and drew from it a gold ring, with a green stone set in the center. He held it to his lips and whispered.

"I'll save you this time Sam... I swear it." He returned the ring to his robes and placed his hand on the orb, his glowing green eyes filled with determination. And with that he was flung back in time, to where the fate of both world would be decided.

The crowd soon overwhelmed Danny, still cheering wildly. He was finally free of them once he heard his father call to him.

"Danny boy! over here!" He floated a few feet into the air, looking over to see his family, Sam and Tucker, gathered around a large jet that he hadnt seen before. It seemed to have been sent by the government because there were large men flanking the jet in all black suits, with tinted sunglasses. The plane was presumably there to take him back to Amnity.

He flew over to them and was quickly ushered into the jet, the guards stepped in front of it and held back the crowd. The moment he was inside he was enveloped in a massive hug from both his parents, which was saying a lot considering his fathers hugs could crack ribs by themselves.

"We're so, so sorry" his mother sobbed into his shoulder. "I cant believe it was you we've been hunting all this time."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Jack asked quietly.

"Isn't it obvious?" Jazz asked from behind them, where she sat next to Sam and Tucker, who were sitting quietly, letting Danny have moment with his family. "All you've talked about over the last few months is finding the ghost kid and quote 'rip him apart molecule by molecule.'"

The two parents shuddered at the thought, Maddie put Danny at arms length at looked him in the eyes.

"You know that we would never hurt you on purpose, right sweetie?" she asked, tears still in her eyes.

"Of course not Mom" Danny said, hugging her reassuringly. "I'm just glad that I don't have to hide it anymore."

"But how did it happen?" Jack asked what he and Maddie had been thinking the whole time. "I mean, we always thought it was impossible for a human to have ghost powers."

"The portal." he stated simply. His parents had been expecting this answer.

"We were there when it happened." Sam said, Tucker nodded.

"Were you there Jazz?" Maddie asked her daughter.

"No, I found out on my own." She gave her brother a smirk. "You cant hide things from me forever."

"No kidding" Danny said shaking his head.

"Was it the accident in college that did that to Vlad?" Jack asked quietly, eyes downcast.

"Yea" Danny answered.

"I still can't believe that he's been tricking me all this time" he said shaking his head sadly. Maddie placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Don't beat yourself up dear, we all trusted him, but it was all just a mask he put on to hide his true intentions," a thought came to mind and she turned to Danny. "Why didn't you tell us about him?"

"Because, if I exposed him, he'd expose me, that was how it works," Danny explained. As family and friends enjoyed simply being together, none of them noticed that a being was laying on top of their speeding jet, his head laying in his arms, staring up at the sky.

"Now all I have to do is wait..." the thirty-eight year old Daniel Fenton/Phantom said to himself. Amusing himself by manipulating clouds into funny shapes. Hey, a guys gotta do something to keep busy

**LINEBREAK**

When they returned they landed in front of the Manson's house, Sam glanced nervously out the window, and saw her parents standin on the front steps, glaring at the jet with a deadly passion.

"Hey," Danny whispered to her, noticing her worried expression, "It'll be okay". He reassured her, raising her chin so her eyes met his, she smiled.

"I know, see you later," as she parted he gave him a small kiss on the lips and parted. As she stepped out of the plane, all of the remaining inhabitants of the plane's eyes were locked on Danny, who was blushing as red as an Italian sports car.

"What?" he asked, pretending as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Everyone remained silent until Jazz and Tucker spoke at once.

"Well it's about time!" They all laughed as the plane took off again. Above them, the older Danny watched Sam approach her parents, fighting the urge to embrace her and never let go. Never again.

_"Ugg, future wives parents about to scream at her for having anything to do with me, I'm out of here". _He wanted to stay near her, protect her, hell, the whole reason he'd came had been to prevent _her_ future death. But He had other things to do if he had any chance of succeeding, he had to gather allies, prepare.

_"I'm gonna need all the help I can get if I'm gonna win" _With that he took off into the sky, invisible, heading to the most unlikely of destinations, the moon.


	2. Chapter 2

Of all the places for a half ghost to go, the last you'd expect would be the moon, or space in general. Well, that excludes this particular half ghost, as he had spent his entire life dreaming of being an astronaut.

But this time he had not went to space for NASA, or even to fight. No he had come to recruit, to recruit the person who, in this timeline, was the single most hated being in existence. At least he would be until Dan came.

Several hours later, Daniel was floating above the surface of the moon, surveying the rocky terrain for his target. He flew over the immense cold, gray craters that made up the moon.

Then, a blue-white mist flowed from his mouth and nostrils, but quickly dissipated into the vacuum of space, Daniel smiled.

"I found you Vlad", he smirked. Just then, a blur came at him with incredible speed. He turned in midair, catching the figure by the throat, mentally chuckling at the memory of this very person doing the same to him so many years ago.

"How dare you enter my domain!" Vlad hissed, struggling trying to free himself. Daniel almost broke into laughter, _my domain?_ He though.

Did Vlad really go senile that quickly? Then again when you spend twenty years seeking revenge on your best friend , these things happen.

"Your domain? How the great have fallen, Vlad, you are not the same man I once called my greatest foe." The elder halfa cocked an eyebrow in confusion, not being able to recognize the man underneath his hood.

"Who are you? Have you simply come to torment me? Haven't I suffered enough already having lost everything. Leave me be!" He continued to struggle until Daniel flung him to the ground.

Even with the little gravity that was present, Plasmius smashed hard into the rocks below, creating a new small crater around him.

"No, I do not come to torment you, I come with an offer, an offer that will bring you redemption." Vlad cackled at the suggestion.

"Who are you come to giving me offers of redemption? Are you some spirit who thinks my soul needs saving? You do not know me, now leave me be."

Vlad started to get up, but soon Daniel had pinned him up against a rocky outcrop. He drew the massive sword on his back, its blade was gold, and it glowed with an inwardly green color.

He held the sword aloft, and he saw something in Vlad Master's eyes that he had never seen before, fear.

"I do not wish to take you life, no one deserves execution, no matter what their crimes. And you say that I do not know you, that I am simply some righteous spirit concerned with your welfare. I know you far more than I ever wanted to." With that he flung back his hood.

Vlad gasped. Even though this Danny Phantom was twenty four years older than the version he knew, the resemblance was uncanny.

He had the same green eyes, and his hair was snow white, spiky in front, and it flowed onto his shoulders in a pure, white mane.

"My God… Daniel, is that you?" he asked, his ghostly eyes the size of saucers in both awe and shock. He nodded. "So what does Clockwork have you doing now? Sent you to try to redeem me so I couldn't start some horrible event?" He asked, unenthusiastically, voice dripping with its usual sarcasm.

"You're just a broken old man, you are neither a threat to me or to the future. I have come because I know for a fact that in the future you sought forgiveness for everything you've done, and I forgave you."

"Forgive me?" Vlad shot back bitterly, "What is there to forgive? I simply tried to take what was mine by right". Daniel shook his head sadly.

"No Vlad, none of it was yours by right, my mother always loved my dad, never you. You have blamed my father for everything that's gone wrong in your life, when in fact all the pain, misery and angst have come from your own actions.

With every act of revenge, every attempt at turning me or seducing my mom you pushed the only real friend you ever had farther and farther away. Face it Vlad, it is you who's at fault, not my father."

The aged halfa absorbed these words, and the more he thought about it, the more he realized that everything he said as true. Jack had always thought of him as a friend, no, like a brother, and he had pushed, no, driven him away. All his pain, loneliness, and depression, had been self inflicted.

Despite how much of a bumbling idiot Jack could be at times, he was a true, loyal friend, and Vlad had spent two decades of his life plotting revenge on the one person who genuinely cared about him. In that moment he experience an emotion he had never felt before, guilt.

"You say that you forgave me in the future, why?" Vlad asked genuinely.

"Because you redeemed yourself, you gave your life trying to warn me and my family, if it wasn't for you, I would be dead. " Vlad thought for a moment, was this really him that Daniel was referring too? Did years of exile really change him?

"You said I warned you, about what?" Daniels eyes went downcast as he placed the sword back in its sheath.

"….Dan, my dark self from an alternate future." Vlad remembered fighting him, but he had been defeated, or so he had heard.

"They didn't make it did they, your family?" Daniel was instantly glaring at him, his eyes glowing in anger.

"No, no they didn't . He killed them all, my wife, children, parents, everyone." His eyes full of sadness, grief, and regret.

"How can you possibly trust this me though? I'm so full of hatred, of anger, even if I were to seek redemption, it may be too late for me." Daniel smiled and offered him his hand.

"It's never too late to change my friend, now come on, we got some major ass kicking to do, and not a whole lot of time."

**LINEBREAK**

Sam nervously followed her parents into the house. Not once did they turn to look at her. She wasn't exactly sure what as going to happen, but knew the basic summary of what they would say.

Things like "What were you thinking!" or "You're never going to see that boy again!". She sighed, boy was this gonna be hell on earth.

She was lead into the parlor, one of her least favorite rooms considering many bright primary colors were plastered over nearly every service.

"Sit" her mother said without any emotion, gesturing to a large, suede chair directly in the center of the room. She slowly sat down. When she looked up both Pamela and Jeremy were still standing, arms crossed across their chests, looking sternly down at their daughter.

"I still can't believe it really" Jeremy began, disgusted, "That you went so far out of your way to defy us that you risked your life with that with that horrible boy". Sam grew angry, opened her mouth to reply, but her mother cut her off.

"Do you really hate us that much? You have no reason to go with that boy." Jeremy took up where his wife left off.

"Well it doesn't matter anymore, because you're never going to see that boy again, I'm calling the courts, and getting the restraining order back, this time to stay!" Sam felt like crying out, bursting into tears, but before she could even say a word s loud noise came from the other room.

"ENOUGH!" Ida, Sam's grandmother, came whirring into the room on her scooter, the look in her eyes was murderous.

"How do get off telling her that she can't be friends with that boy? He's been there for her far more than either of you have, he supports what she does, doesn't try to force his own foolish ideals on her.

For years you've been calling him a hooligan, a troublemaker, a bad influence, but I won't have it anymore! Sam is going to see that boy for as long as she wants, and there's nothing you can do about it!" Now it was Jeremy's turn to get angry.

"You can't tell me how to raise my on child mother! I have a right to decide whether or not she can be friends with that vile urchin!"

"One, my name is mom, two, she has a much better taste in friends than you ever did, and three, I am you mother and you will do what I say! Now got to your room young man!" she yelled pointing in the direction of the stares. Her son stared at her in disbelief while Sam struggled to contain her laughter.

"You can't send me to my room! I'm forty-three!"

"Go!" she said louder this time, Jeremy slowly hung his in defeat, and marched up the stairs, his wife following closely behind him. Sam burst out laughing, wiping a tear from her eyes.

"Thanks Nana, I owe you so much for that". She said, hugging her grandma.

"Anytime dear, I've gotten so sick of them trying to force you into liking what they like, hang out with who they want." Then her face got mischievous.

"So, has Danny finally come to his senses and made his move?" she asked, a grin on her face, an eyebrow raised. Sam blushed furiously, but none the less smiled.

"Yeah, he…he kissed me".

"Well it's about time, I always knew you two would end up together, it was just a matter of when". She smiled at her granddaughter proudly.

"No matter what your parents think, I'll always support you, never forget that Sam. Now who's up for bowling?" Sam chuckled at her grandmothers fun loving nature, and followed her to the basement, feeling happier than she ever had before.

The boy of her dreams, had kissed her, though nothing had been made official yet, she knew that she had a lot to look forward in the future. All of which she would stand by her ghostly hero. And now she really could say that he was _her_s and only hers.


	3. Chapter 3

After they had dropped off tucker, who's parents were far more accepting than Sam's, the Fenton's made their way home. This may seem like a simple thing, but when there are people surrounding your house, a crowd of rabid fans that is, it tends to make things a lot more difficult.

Using his powers, he made himself and his family invisible, and phased through the crowd unseen, and entered the Fenton works building.

Danny sighed in relief once he was inside, now he could finally rest, which was something one normally required after uniting his enemies and saving the world from ultimate doom.

Just then a white and black blur struck Danny in the chest, knocking him backwards onto the couch. Jack and Maddie Instantly drew their weapons. Danny was confused, then he looked down at the white headed being, with her head buried in his chest.

"Danielle?" he asked.

"Hey cuz" she said back, grinning up at him. Needless to say, the rest of the Fenton clan was very confused.

"Danny" his mother asked "Who is this?", lowering the massive ecto-bazooka she had pulled from seemingly nowhere. Danny looked to his parents and back to the clone on top of him, unsure of what to say.

"Umm… this is Danielle, my clone". His parents and sister stared blankly back at him.

"Your clone?" Jack asked. Danny sighed.

"You wanna explain?" Danny asked his female counterpart, she shook her head, he sighed.

"It's a really long story, but to sum it up, Vlad wanted to create the perfect half-ghost son. Using DNA he got off Va-, a ghost hunters suit that he sent after me, he created several clones of me, but they were all unstable, except for Danielle.

He convinced her that he loved her as a daughter and sent her after me to get my DNA to stabilize one of the other clones, but he told her it as to save her."

"But then I realized how much of a psychopath he was, teamed up with Danny, destroyed his equipment, and now here I am". Dani finished the story. Maddie, who was nearly moved to tears, swept the young girl up in a tight hug.

"Oh you poor thing!", she held the young halfa tight. Once she had regained her calm she spoke. "Well don't have to worry about that anymore, you can stay with us from now on."

"Really?" she asked, her eyes filling with hope and surprise at the same time, eyes filling with joyful tears.

"Of course, I was going to come find you and offer later anyway, you saved me a trip!" Danny said grinning.

"I've always wanted a sister!" Jazz squealed. Dani wiped a tear from her face, not expecting to be accepted into the family so quickly.

"Thanks Mr. and Mrs. Fenton"

"Danielle, if you're going to live here, you better start calling me mom" Maddie said kindly.

"And you can call me dad!" Jack boomed loudly his trademark smile plastered across his face. Danny sighed, yep, this definitely his family, and oh boy was it gonna get hectic now.

**24 hours later**

Vlad was getting impatient with this future form of his arch enemy. He had come to him, warning him of a horrible apocalyptic future, and all they had done so far was wait, wait in a tree for that matter.

Daniel was sitting on the highest branch, still as a statue staring out into the distance, obviously waiting for something. How was Vlad going to earn his redemption if all they did was sit around and wait!

"Not to nag or anything, but why are we just sitting here, you said we had things to do." Daniel remained silent for several moments before responding.

"Yes, we do have a lot to do, but right now I'm reliving one of the best moments of my life. So sit down, shut up, get invisible, and stay that way." He replied without turning his head.

At the bottom of the hill where the tree stood was town hall, where the entire town was gathered to honor the world savior. In front of the hall stood a massive statue of his teenage self, a globe in his right hand raised above his head.

"The statue's a little much isn't it?" Vlad said with a sneer. "I mean really Daniel, I've heard of hero worship but this is just ridiculous." Daniel glanced back at him.

"Do you really think I wanted it? Oh yes Vlad, I'm just the kind of person who uses my powers as a reason to make everyone treat me like some God", he said sarcastically. At this Vlad shut his mouth, knowing perfectly well what Daniel was referring to.

They waited for what to Vlad, seemed like hours. The sun was setting, and Vlad eyes were half closed, about to slip into unconsciousness, when he was shaken awake. Daniel placed a finger over his own lips, signaling him to be quiet. He pointed down.

Below them was Danny, who had just landed with Sam. Both were sitting, looking out over the assembled crowd. It was Sam who finally broke the silence.

"I can't believe you didn't want to attend your own ceremony." Danny grinned.

"Yeah, well, you know me. I kind of like sitting on the sidelines sometimes."

"So your parents are cool knowing your identity?" Danny nodded.

"Its time for new beginnings" he grinned "my dad even said I could be his sidekick." Daniel had to place his hand over Vlad's mouth to keep him from laughing and exposing their location.

"You're a big star now, probably the biggest in the world". Sam said, a hint of depression in her voices.

"Yeah it's weird isn't it?" Danny replied. Sam sighed sadly.

"I'm probably not gonna see much of you anymore huh?" Danny grinned.

"I wouldn't bet on that". Daniel and Vlad watched as he withdrew from his pocket, a gold ring with a green stone set in the center. He gently took Sam's wrist and slipped the ring on her finger, tears were now forming in the Goths eyes.

"I couldn't have done any of this without you Sam, and I don't know where the future's going, but I just hope that you'll be there to share it with me."

He said, his rehearsed speech long forgotten. With that he pressed his lips to hers, and she pressed right back, Daniel was still fighting to keep Vlad from making a witty remark.

Then they watched them fly away into the setting sun happier than they had ever been before, unafraid of the future,_ but they should be_ Daniel thought to himself. When they had disappeared into the distance, Vlad could no longer control himself.

"Did we really wait all that time just to see you get together with the Manson girl?" he sounded irritated, and fairly annoyed. Daniel slowly turned to him and spoke quietly, yet so seriously that it chilled the ex-villain to the bone.

"The 'Manson girl' happens to be my wife of nearly twenty years, this was one of the greatest moments of my life. And another thing, wouldn't _you_ want to see your wife alive and well, when the last time you saw her she had been reduced to a chard corpse? Surrounded by the bodies of your children, best friend, parents and sister?"

Vlad nearly gasped, nearly. Although he had allied himself with Daniel, he had not been enlightened to the unspeakable horrors to which he had witnessed being committed, by a demonic version of himself.

"Come on" Daniel spoke gruffly, floating of the branch he was sitting on. "We have places to go, and don't worry Vlad, no more reminiscing, it's all business now." As they flew away, Vlad could see the burning determination in Daniels eyes, one that he knew all too well.

**LINEBREAK**

In the deepest realm of the ghost zone, where the atmosphere glowed a crimson blood red instead of green, and where ghosts of demonic nature thrived, the fright knight rode his winged steed. One who was in this sector of the ghost zone might think that they had stumbled into hell, with horrible twisted beasts wreaking havoc all over the place.

If one were to think this they would be right. For you see what no humans, and very few ghosts knew was that the ghost zone was a crossroads of reality. If one were to enter they ghost zone they could find gateways to earth, heaven and hell.

Where the spirit of Halloween now flew was merely the edge of the abyss, the edge of the void, and yet it was still further than most ghosts would ever venture. In the distance was a tall twisted red spire, that appeared to be made of the chard remains of an uncountable amount of creatures. The knight entered the spire, leaving his horse at the entrance.

He slowly ascended the spire, passing dozens of demonic guards, who were massive creatures with red skin, black eyes, and long horns that protruded from their foreheads, each carried massive spears.

He reached the top, the throne room, at the end, in a throne crafted from black jade sat the single most diabolical being ever to come into existence, Dan. His appearance had changed since the teenaged Danny had encountered him.

He now wore black plate armor covered with ancient markings, which covered his shoulders and torso, the only thing left exposed was the DP emblem on his chest. His eyes still glowed a menacing red, and his hair was a fiery inferno. Fright knight fell to one knee and crossed his arm across his chest.

"Master" he said quietly, bowing his head in respect.

"Ah fright knight, how good of you to return" Dan said airily, sounding slightly amused. "I thought that we had agreed to meet once the time to strike arrived?"

"Yes my master," Knight agreed "But the most distasteful news has reached my ears, it seems that Daniel followed you through the time stream". Dan didn't seem surprised by this fact.

"Well of course he did, I always knew that he would clash with me again, is this really all that you have come to me for?" he asked, his uncontrollable anger rising.

"Of course not my lord," Knight answered hastily "But he has allied himself with Plasmius". Dan snorted.

"Plasmius is nothing more than a broken man who had no idea how to control the power he was unrightfully blessed with" he scoffed. "You disappoint me, return to your post before I lose my temper". With that he ignited a pulsing sphere of black ectoplasm in his palm.

"Please my lord, I have more information, Daniel has acquired a very strange sword. It is gold in color, and he is able to channel his power through it." This peaked Dan's interest, he smothered the ecto orb in his hand.

"This is very interesting, I did not expect he would take such a desperate attempt at matching my strength", he said smiling his fanged smile. "If you would hand me your sword" he ordered his servant. Fright knight immediately obliged, removing the soul shredder from his back and presenting it to his master.

Dan ran a finger along its bladed edge, inspecting the weapon. He stood and strapped the sword to his own back.

"Return to your position Fright Knight, we will meet at the pre arranged time" he unsheathed his newly acquired blade, and ignited it with a pulse of dark energy. The blade glowed a deep black, emitting demonic energy. The fright knight took his leave, moving his back up sword (regular sword) to his back.

"Soon Daniel" Dan whispered, holding the blazing weapon close to his face, illuminating his twisted face. "The games will begin….."


	4. Chapter 4

To say that things were changing quickly for Danny would be an understatement, a really, really big one at that. He awoke the next day, ready for whatever would come next. He peered into the corner of his bedroom, where Danielle slept on an extra bed. She was staying in his room while they got hers ready for her.

She was still sound asleep, comfortably curled against one of Jazz's old oversized teddy bears she'd won at the fair years ago. As she was a genetic duplicate of Danny, she was definitely not a morning person. In fact, she even snored just as loud as Danny did, she even drooled a little out of the side of her mouth as she slept. Today he would return to school, along with Danielle who their parents had enrolled as a freshman at Casper High.

Although this routine may seem normal for a teenager, going to a public place to sleep while old people talk about crap they never wanted to know about (procrastinators unite!), this week would still be hectic. Leaders from all over the world were coming to Amnity to honor the planets savior, the president, and even the queen of England was coming, and he would be knighted Sr. Daniel Fenton/Phantom.

But many aspects of life would be made so much easier now that his identity was known. He would no longer have to find a secluded spot to transform, and now Lancer could no longer give him detention for being late too, or blowing off class to fight a ghost. He sighed as he rolled over to look at the alarm clock on his bedside table. It was five till six, five minute before he'd have to get up.

He turned off the alarm, and quietly got up and dressed himself. He moved to his younger sisters bedside and tried to coax the young halfa awake.

"Hey sis, time to wake up", she didn't budge, she was just as stubborn as he was, combined that with the trademark female-Fenton anger issues, and he could be writing his own death sentence. "Hey sis", he tried again. She groaned, rolled over, and looked at him with half open, heavily annoyed eyes. She glanced over at the clock.

"Is this really the time?", she asked, obviously wanting to get more sleep. He grinned sheepishly.

"Come one, you got to get ready for school". She looked at him oddly for a moment before responding.

"Ok I guess, now get out I have to change". He mock saluted, and phased through the floor, landing just behind his usual place at the kitchen table. His mom was already up and cooking, Jazz was dressed and eating, and Jack, being the loveable oaf he was, was still asleep. (Its six AM and he works at home, you can't blame him).

"Good morning sweetie", Maddie said once she noticed Danny's presence. "Hungry? I made a big breakfast". She said, placing a large platter of bacon, eggs, and pancake, which to Danny's urprise, none of which had eye or was moving with the intent to kill him, what a relief!

"Sorry mom", he replied, grabbing an apple from the bowl in the center of the table. "I'm flying Sam to school this morning". MAddie nodded, then gave off a long sigh.

"I always knew you two would end up together, I knew it since you were six years old. You've always been so close." she trailed off, Danny blushed, Jazz laughed.

"I can tell you're getting tired of people saying that, huh little brother." Jazz said with a smirk. "You know Tucker's making a fortune off you two". Danny turned on his heel to face her.

"What?"

"Yeah", she replied. "He made bets with loads of people that you two would get together, heck, even I made fifty bucks!" Danny stared at her in disbelief.

"You're making money off me?!" Jazz grinned.

"Danny, I think almost everyone in school had a bet riding on you two, I mean everyone's been expecting it to happen for years." Danny blushed again.

"Do you mind taking Danielle to get her schedule and stuff if I don't get to school on time?" Jazz nodded, then grinned slyly.

"Have fun with your girlfriend bro". Danny grinned as he took on his ghostly form, and soared up through the ceiling, and out of the building, flying at 120mph to Sam's.

At the home of Casper high's resident Goth, Sam showered, and got dressed. Her mind was filled with complete and utter bliss, wondering if the night before had all been a simple dream, one that she'd been having for years that is.

Then again, it was not everyday that the boy of your dreams swept you off your feet (literally). She felt happier than she could ever remember feeling, although there was still the dread of her parents reactions once they found out the extent of their relationship.

But she didn't care what they thought, it was her life , and there was no way she was gonna let her prissy parents live it for her. Just then a loud voice called out behind her as she brushed her hair.

"Boo!" she jumped, and turned around to see Danny, in ghost mode, doing his best 'beware I am the box ghost!' pose. She laughed and punched him lightly on the shoulder.

"Big on entrances today, Mr. Phantom?" she asked kissing him lightly on the lips.

"Yeah" he began with his trademark goofy smile. "Just wait till I get duplication down, then you're in for a big surprise". She laughed and hug him tightly, resting her head on his shoulder. To her surprise, he returned to his human form.

"Aren't we flying?" she asked, he nodded in reply.

"Yeah, but if we just fly out the window your parents would probably think that I kidnapped you or something." He laughed at the thought, but Sam looked sad.

"I'm just gonna go ahead and apologize before hand for anything they say to you" she sighed, "I just wish they could accept the fact that we're friends, let alone that we're dating". He hugged her tighter.

"Don't worry Sam, I know you don't care what they think, and neither do I. So how about we get to school? I'm sure you just can't wait to tell Paulina that you're dating the ghost boy." This lifted her spirits, a malicious grin instantly spreading across her features.

"Ohhh, this is going to be a fun day for both of us. Just be prepared when I start making out with you in the middle of the hallway". Danny grinned.

"I look forward to it, too bad Tuck's to busy being mayor, this has catfight written all over it." Sam just smiled.

"What kind of town do we live in that a sixteen year old can be mayor?" Danny thought for a moment.

"One that's constantly under attack by ghosts?"

"Good point". Sam took a deep breath, preparing herself mentally for having to endure he parents insults toward her boyfriend. "Ready?" she asked, taking his hand in hers, squeezing it for reassurance. He smiled.

"Always". She led him out the door and down the really, really tall stairs of Manson mansion. She grabbed her backpack and slung it over her shoulder.

She was really hoping to pass her Grandma and tell her she was leaving, avoiding her parents all together, but such is life that both Pam and Jeremy were waiting for them at the front door, arms crossed, faces' devoid of emotion.

"Samantha", her mother said sternly, her eyes flashing towards Danny with a venom he had only ever seen from enemies like Skulker, Ember, or Pariah Dark.

"What is _he _doing here?" Jeremy finished for his wife. Sam glared at her parents, her beautiful jade colored eyes blazing red with anger.

"Is there something wrong with my boyfriend picking me up for school in the morning?" she hissed, pulling Danny closer, both to infuriate her parents further, and just because she liked him being close to her.

"No, I suppose not", Jeremy conceded. "But I do not believe you told us he was coming to get you". Pamela then spoke.

"Your grandmother may have convinced us to allow this relationship" she paused, coughing something like 'forced'. "But that doesn't mean that we have to like it."

"We're going to need to set some rules" he turned to Danny, his eyes piercing him like a spear. "You and I are going to have a talk, young man, not right now though as you both need to get to school. But don't think that you can go out with our daughter without being interrogated by us first".

Danny noted how they didn't try to sugar coat the word 'interrogate' they just said it, plain and simple. Danny gulped before he answered.

"Yes sir". The parents parted before them, allowing them to pass through the door. Once out on the steps, Danny transformed once again, scooping Sam into his arms bridal style, he took off towards the high school. Once they were high in the air, Sam groaned loudly.

"I'm really sorry about that" she apologized. "I doubt they would interrogate anyone else I dated," she sighed, looking guilty.

"Hey," Danny started, smiling down at the beautiful girl in his arms. "It's fine really. I'm prepared to be mentally probed by your parent's, I think I know what I'm in for. Anyway, it can't get any worse than what happened to the last guy Jazz dated." Sam burst out laughing at the memory.

"Oh yeah, do you know if that guy ever got the ecto goo out of his hair." Danny shook his head.

"Well, when Danielle starts dating, they're in for a double dose, one from our parents, another from her."

"I think its cool your folks took her in, she'll be a great sister." Sam paused. "Anyway, I need _someone _ to keep you in line while I'm not there." Danny cocked an eyebrow.

"Isn't that what Jazz is for?" Sam grinned and shook her head.

"I said I needed someone to keep you in line, not torture you by slowly rotting your brain from the inside by ranting on about your deteriorating sanity". Danny just looked at her for a moment before responding.

"You're a strange one, Ms. Manson".

"And don't you ever forget it", she said as she placed her lips on his. Not something you see everyday is it? The world hero making out with his girlfriend two hundred feet in the air, while flying at high speed. Oh well, nothing in Amnity park is ever normal for long.

Meanwhile, about a mile below the city streets, below the sewers, Vlad and Daniel were currently in a large cavern, that had been carved from years of running water.

At first Vlad didn't question why they were setting up flood lights all along the edge of the massive chamber, and he didn't even question why he was being frequently sent through the porto-portal to his abandoned castle, bringing back massive loads of food, beds, and other supplies.

But after hours of non stop work, the old crazy fruit loop couldn't take it any longer.

"Forgive me for asking, Daniel, but what does this have to do with fighting Dan?" Daniel turned from his work for a moment to face his former enemy.

"This is our back up plan, if we cant beat him the first time we face him, we bring the town down here." Vlad laughed.

"You actually think you can fit that many people down here?" he asked, bemusedly. Daniel shook his head.

"Not yet". He turned in mid air, towards the one wall devoid of any light fixtures. He raised his hand, and ignited a pulsating glowing orb of blue-white ectoplasm. His eyes glowed a shining green, and the sword on his back seen to glow as well, as if it were a conduit for his ghostly power. Vlad gasped as it was released. The wall all but disintegrated, expanding the tunnel at least five miles in a blaze of bright light.

He had not seen such power since Danny had wielded the ecto-suit, multiplying his power a hundred fold. But this…. This was insane! How was it possible that this older Danny held such power? When he had roughly the same amount of experience as Vlad, give or take four years.

But then it dawned on Vlad, if Daniel couldn't defeat Dan with this much power, how exactly strong was this demonic phantom?


	5. Chapter 5

The new couple landed in the parking lot behind the school, directly beside where Jazz and Danielle had just pulled up in Jazz's red convertible. Luckily for them, it seemed they were the first students to arrive, and teachers were more mature than to pull the raging fan deal, well at least not in public.

"Hey bro!" Danielle called to them as they touched down, "It's about time you got here!".

"But you just got here to!" Danny retorted as her set Sam down beside him, his arms still around her waist.

"Actually" Jazz began, "We got here a while ago, we just took a couple laps around the block waiting for you". Danny slapped his forehead as the girls laughed.

"So", Jazz said with a sly and mischievous grin spread across her face, turning to Sam. "I here Mr. clueless finally made his move". Sam smiled, Danny blushed as red as a tomato, and Danni just laughed.

"Yep, he came around eventually though", she replied pecking the hybrid next to her on the cheek. Danny blushed a little deeper.

"You guys are never gonna drop the clueless thing are you?"

"Nope" all girls answered at once, then broke into laughter. They love making things hard on the teen superhero don't they?

The quartet made their way across the barren parking lot, up to the back steps of the high-school. As they walked through the halls of the school, several teachers poked their heads out.

To Danny's surprise many stepped out of their rooms, and applauded him as he walked by. He blushed, as he and Danni made their way to Mr. Lancer's room, where they would get her schedule.

"I've got to go to my locker, I'll meet up with you later", Sam said, kissing her boyfriend firmly before walking briskly down the hall.

"Me too, see you later li'l bro, li'l sis", Jazz said as she parted in the opposite direction. The two halfas turned toward the door, Danielle taking a deep breath.

"Nervous?" Danny asked his clone, knowing very well how stressful the first day of highschool could be. Then again he didn't have to start it with people knowing he had superpowers, or that he was a clone.

"I guess" she muttered, "I just don't know what schools like, I may be a clone of you, but I don't have your memories , hell, technically I'm only like six months old!" she threw her hands up in exasperation. Danny patted his sister on the shoulder.

"Don't worry about it, you've got me Sam and Tucker, and I'm sure you'll make other friends. Now let's get your information from Lancer, of all the teachers, he's probably the most tolerable." He slowly raised his fisted, and rapped lightly on it with his knuckles.

"Come in", they heard Lancer's loud voice call through the door. They entered the room, to find the English teacher, as always, behind his desk with massive stacks of papers neatly covering the large surface area of the desk, many of which Danny could swear were his own papers, with dreadfully low marks on them, but what are grades to a superhero?

"Ah, Mr. Fenton, I'm glad to see that you're on time". He smiled as his eyes fell upon Danielle, who looked nervous about meeting her new, and first school teacher. "And you must be Danielle. I must admit, I never expected a clone to look so similar to the original". He looked back and forth between the two hybrids for a moment. "If it wasn't for the ponytail and height difference I doubt I could tell you apart."

The three of them laughed, and Lancer gestured to the two vacant seats in front of his desk. They sat down, as did the English teacher. He remained silent for a moment, tenting his fingers, seeming to be deep in thought. Then he spoke in a serious, apologetic tone.

"Daniel, I want to start off by expressing just how sorry I am for the last two years." He paused and chuckled. "I never _actually _thought there would be a legitimate reason for your frequent absences". He was surprised when Danny returned the laugh. Lancer became serious once again.

"I just wish that you would have told me, you do know that I would have helped you right? I wouldn't have been so strict with you had I known you'd been out saving our lives." Danny rubbed the back of his neck as he replied.

"Well, I didn't really know how you'd react. I didn't know if you'd shun me or call my parents to come exterminate me".

"Daniel" the teacher began, sympathy in his eyes. "I would never shun you simply for having your abilities, as for calling your parents, I know for a fact that they would never harm you intentionally." As he finished Danielle gave her counterpart a look that said 'he just told you what everyone else has been saying all day'.

"Now, as to the two of you", he said, getting down to business at last, which Danny still couldn't understand why he enjoyed. "Both of you will get extension on homework when off fighting ghosts, and when there is an attack, simply raise your hand, and you will be excused. Now Ms. Fenton, here is your schedule."

He handed a packet of several pieces of paper, which included her new class, schedule, and her locker number and combination. She blushed slight at being called, Ms. Fenton, for the first time, never having had a surname before.

"Now", Lancer continued. "I suggest you get you things quickly," directing this mostly at Danny. "Or you'll find a large road block in your way of getting to class". Danny stared blankly at him before slapping his forehead.

"Raging fans and crazy girls, right?" Lancer chuckled as he nodded in reply. Danni snapped her fingers.

"Aw man, I wish I brought a camera." Both Danny and Lancer gave her an odd look. I wanna get pictures of the slaughter, Tucker's gonna want pictures of it anyway." Danny sighed, putting his head in his hands.

"Oh great, my first day back at school I get to watch my girlfriend tear through hoards of fangirls", he paused and thought for a moment. "Wait, that might actually be fun." Lancer cocked an eyebrow at the word girlfriend.

"So, you and Miss Manson are an item now?" Danny turned fully around to face him, his face full of confusion.

"How-how did you know that?" he stuttered. Lancer chuckled.

"Not to be rude Danny, but it was rather obvious." Danni laughed and Danny blushed. "Now" the teacher said, standing up. "Both of you better get off to class, I have some money to collect." Danny nearly fell over in shock.

"You bet on us too!?" he nearly yelled. Lancer laughed.

"I think everyone did Danny", he answered as he left the room. Danny shook his head, it was going to be a long day.

**LINEBREAK**

Dan flew through the void of the underworld, the fright knight, his destination one of great horror and agony. Blood caked the cavern-like walls of the void, dripping into the endless pit below. The screams of the damned echoed around them, felling the endless pain of eternal punishment.

Massive demon warriors were all around, dealing out the punishments set by the devil king of this realm, Lucifer himself. Dan chuckled as he saw many historical figures suffer for their crimes, Hitler, Attila the Hun, Joseph Stallin, and many other notorious bastards who brought pain, suffering and death to people all over the planet.

"_My favorite kind of people", _Dan thought to himself. Actually he thought it was quite a pity that none of them had returned as ghosts, so he couldn't recruit any of them for his infernal army. But their sins were far too great for them to return in any form, physical or ectoplasmic, the memory of their actions was plague on the world enough.

In the distance, amongst the stalactites, dripping with an endless supply of dark blood and cartilage, was a magnificent, and horrible castle. It was made of both red and black stone, well it looked like stone, but in truth it was the bones of the damned, the gates at the entrance composed entirely of the skulls, big and small, of adults and infants alike.

As Dan and his servant approached the gate, several massive guards, who looked like humanoid boars with spears, red skin and black eye's came out to greet them.

"What business have you with our master?", the one on the right spoke in a deep, cold voice that would make any mortal shake in their skin. Dan smirked.

"My business is my own, you pathetic worm. Now, be gone!" He threw his hand at them in a swift cutting motion. From the tips of his fingers emerged a blade like flurry of black energy. The demons raised their weapons in defense, but to no avail, and in an instant they were nothing but dust.

Without a second thought, Dan raised his hand a second time, a pulsating orb forming once again. It flew towards the gates at a very slow speed, seeming to build its own dramatic tension.

The skull gate shattered into a billion tiny pieces, sharp projectiles flying out in all directions. The ghosts simply became intangible, letting them pass right through. They became invisible as they entered the devil's palace, as dozens of demonic guards flooded to the sound of the explosion, weapons aloft.

Dan sneered, delighted with himself so far. After nearly half an hour of walking/floating straight ahead, they came to the massive doors of the throne room. They became visible as the door was slammed open. At least a hundred demon soldiers filled the throne room, which seemed to be decorated with dozens of mutilated copses that hung loosely on the walls.

All at once they turned to Dan and the knight, weapons flaming with chaos, all pointed at them ready to strike, but Dan's attention was focused on the mountain of a man at the far end of the room, Lucifer, the king of hell himself.

His face was twisted blackness, the very image of fear, hatred, and despair. He had horns that protruded from his head that were so long that they reached the floor, running down the length of his back. He wore a simple black cloak, over a suit of armor made entirely of bones. The throne he sat was made of still conscious, violently twisting bodies.

The devil stood, and all the demons fell to their knees in homage. Then he spoke in a surprisingly cool voice, that still dripped with the essence of darkness.

"Why have you come here _ghost_?" he spat the word venomously, his words filled with hatred for the beings that managed to avoid coming to his domain.

"I have to come to claim my rightful place, Lucifer" Dan said simply, removing the soul shredder from his back, knowing that the fallen angel would take great offence at being called by his old name.

"Your rightful throne? You dare enter my palace, and challenge ME!?" the devil roared, sending fear down the spines of all in the room, all but Dan, who felt no fear. The devil leapt forward, unleashing from his hands a red wave of energy, energy that was powered by all the sins ever made, all the negative power in the universe.

Dan stood his ground, and raised his blade. The energy hit the ghostly metal with a loud hissing noise, Dan being moved backward with the sheer force, the earthy ground beneath him being carved with the imprint of where his feet once stood.

". YIELD!" Dan bellowed. He shoved his blade forward, forcing all of his power into the blade. The red and black energies mixed, as Dan commanded them towards the devil. With a great shriek, that shook the foundations of hell, the devil began to disintegrate into a great black mist. Dan stepped forward into the mist, and inhaled deeply.

His eyes glowed bright red, his pupils disappearing, horns erupted from his forehead, as he took on the mantle of the devil, becoming the single most powerful being ever to fight towards the destruction of the light. The demons stood frozen in both shock and fear as the fright knight stepped forward.

"All hail Dan! The infernal king!" In a flash the servants of darkness fell to their knees in homage, honoring their new rightful king. Dan spoke in his soft and cruel voice.

"Minions, within the next few day, we shall take what is ours, we shall conquer the world above where you once dwelled and were shunned for your actions." He raised his left fist, the right still holding his blade, that now glowed brightly, the blade now a dark crimson.

"I will crush the guardian of the light, along with his past, and all will bow before us!" The demons erupted in cheers. "Then," he continued, his army at once becoming silent to allow him to speak, he pointed his hand skyward. "We will take the heavens for our own." The demons cheered once again, and Dan whispered to himself.

"Prepare to watch all you love burn once again…. Daniel."


	6. Chapter 6

**Welcome back everybody! I'm officially on springbreak and im back for more! I'd just like to note I edited the last chapter, there was a sentence that apparently offended someone (the one with the inventor of cigarettes being in hell) they were the only one who mentioned it, but I'd like to apologize anyway. **

**So, here it goes, we get to see more of Daniels plans, and the long awaited Manson fangirl slaughter!, which in truth will probably be just yelling, hissing and standard firebreathing anger, sorry people who wanted to see blood shed, even sam's not that violent. Happy reading my friends, just one or two more chapters after this until the epic meeting of the three phantoms!**

Vlad had to admit that he was impressed with Daniels technological genius, then again, he thought. He was his mothers son, and even though he would never admit it, he got some of his brains from his father. Although Jack was an incompetent oaf, he was still a genius, but an idiot at the same time. (does that make sense?)

Daniel carefully carved a large circular chamber at the bottom of the massive cavern. It was dimly lit by torches, and he set a large pod like object in the center, which was big enough for a large person, wires running all over the walls, leading to the lighting and heating systems in the outer cave.

The pod reminded Vlad of the modules he used to clone Danny, except they were thicker at the top, and ecto generators, which produced vast amounts of electricity when exposed to ectoplasm, were mounted around the base.

Vlad watched as his fellow halfa dismantled a ghost shield generator, removed most of the primary components, and grafted them into the module.

"A ghost shield?", Vlad asked, eyebrows raised. "I thought you were making a power source for the lights, I doubt a ghost shield would stop the fright knight, let alone Dan".

"It's for both", Daniel replied, not looking up from his work. "And it's not an ordinary ghost shield….least it won't be once I'm done with it". Vlad continued to watch as Daniel removed the primary conduits from the shields access panel, and replaced them with delicate crystals, of various colors, peeking the old villains interest.

"May I ask, what those are?" Vlad was mentally kicking himself at asking such a childish question, even with all his years of experience, even he had no idea what they were, and he was supposed to be an expert on all things ghostly.

"Nexus crystals", Daniel stated bluntly. "They are formed from special materials, each one is directly tuned into the spiritual of a specific kind of being." He held up the green crystal, it looked like an emerald, but was shaped like a double pyramid, and glowed from within.

"This one represents ghosts", he paused and held up the blue crystal, "This one will repel humans with dark intentions towards us", and finally he held up the red crystal. "This, repels demon". Vlad nearly snorted at the ridiculousness of the statement. (LOL)

"Demons? Have you gone senile? The last time I checked we were fighting a ghost, not beings that may or may not exist". He continued to laugh, Daniel's face remained cold and stony.

"Knowing Dan, he'll use anything, and anyone to get what he wants", he placed the crystal into the system, "And I'm taking all the precautions available". Vlad remained silent, he had to admit, Danny really did mature a lot when he grew up, and even began thinking before acting. Then he noticed there was one crystal remaining, that glowed with an inner yellow light.

"And that one?", he asked, indicating the stone in Daniel's palm.

"This," he replied, holding it up to his own eye level, "Allows halfa's to pass through". With that he placed the final crystal in place, and closed the access panel. He stepped into the module, placing his gloved hands on the latex covered handles on either side of the door.

"You might wanna back up, this could get intense", he advised Vlad, who in turn retreated a safe distance away. Daniel took a deep breath, letting his massive inner power flow through every cell of his body.

There was a bright flash as his eyes began to glow brightly. In fact, his whole body seemed to glow, as the power tried to escape through any means necessary. Then it all froze, and blue-white energy erupted from his hands, transferring into the handles he grasped. The ectoplasm flowed through the machine, being multiplied as it went, then the whole cavern was illuminated, as electricity was formed.

Then, a golden shield of energy emerged from the top of the module, expanding throughout the cavern, growing to fit perfectly to each and every crevice of the rocky base, making it perfect as a refuge if their plans should fail. Daniel emerged from the module, power barely even tapped into, looking no more tired than he had before entering.

He approached Vlad, whose mouth was open in shock at the sheer amount of power his former enemy could produce so effortlessly.

"How….how did you do that?" he exclaimed, letting his emotions take over. Daniel gave a small halfhearted smile, removing the sword from his back.

"This", he answered, holding it before him carefully. "The sword of unity". Vlad actually gasped this time. He had heard of the sword, it was one of the oldest and most fabled items in the history of the ghost zone, he had always assumed it to be a myth, apparently, he was wrong.

The sword was said to have been forged by the first observant's eons ago, at the very beginning of time itself. It was placed at the farthest reach of the ghost zone, exactly in the center of the path between heaven and hell.

It was said that in a time of gravest need, ghosts would pump their power, will, and very existence into the sword, allowing the most powerful among them to take it as their own, and fight in the name of all ghosts, unified as one. Daniel held up his hand, stopping Vlad from bombarding him with questions.

"I will explain in due time my friend, but now we have no time."

He pulled a map from his robe, which Vlad realized he had never seen him without off completely, only his hood, and placed it on the ground between them, it was of Amnity park. They both sat, ready to make their offensive plans.

"Now," Daniel began, tenting his fingers together. "If I know Dan, he'll want to make the biggest, most public display as possible." He pointed to the stadium on the map.

"I think he will strike here, this Saturday, that's when the award ceremony is taking place, camera's will be there, leaders from all over the world too, it's just his style." Vlad nodded in agreement.

"What do you suggest we do?" Daniel thought for a moment, then responded.

"Strategically, he knows all my weaknesses…. I suppose you can guess my greatest one?" Vlad didn't even have to think of an answer, it was so obvious.

"Your wife", Daniel nodded.

"Its actually part of how I got this strong….she's my ghostly obsession, though it's not nearly as strong for a halfa then it is for a full ghost."

Vlad understood this, though he had never been able to draw power from his obsession, it change to much, between Maddie and his lust for power.

The thing was, a ghostly obsession, like Skulker's hunting, ember's music, and the box ghost's boxes, was more than a theme to the ghost, it was a power source.

A halfa however, did not have a real 'theme', their obsessions were more subtle, and could be used to tap into their true potential, which for some ghosts was nearly limitless.

"So, I want you to remain invisible, under the ground beneath where my family and Sam are sitting." He handed him a pair of green and white headphones. "Wear these, and when tell you, come out and shield them….. I'll take care of Dan."

Vlad nodded in approval, redeemed he may be, he would still leave the omnipotent enemy to the other guy.

"There's one more thing," Daniel began again. "He also knows my one 'physical' weakness". Vlad raised an eyebrow. Physical weakness? He could shield a massive cave with little effort, and he's worried about physical weakness.

"And that would be?" he asked.

"My younger self", Daniel replied simply. It took Vlad a moment to realize what he meant, but then it came to him.

"Oh, I see, while he operates out of time, he no longer needs Danny to exist, you still do". Daniel nodded solemnly.

"Yeah, if the kid dies, I wont exist anymore. I know that Dan will go or him first, but he'll try to toy with him first. That's how he works, he rips someone apart so entirely, that by the end they'll be begging for death." There was a silence, then Vlad spoke.

"He did that to you, I assume" Daniel nodded, emotionlessly.

"I wanted to die, there was nothing left for me to live for, and I asked Dan to kill me." He paused and looked his friend straight in the eye. "Then you saved me".

"How?" Vlad replied quickly, wanting to know what he did that made Daniel so intent on redeeming him. Daniel smiled.

"You tried to warn me , you came out of the portal, trying to tell me that he was coming. I didn't trust you, needless to say, and then he came.

He….he killed everyone, had me on my knees, was about to deal the final blow, when you dove at me, drag me into the portal, and destroyed it on your way out, but not without getting shot on your way out.

As…as you died, you told me to seek out this sword," he indicated the blade on his back, "and told me only I could beat him". Vlad was shocked, and touched.

"So that's why you forgave me? And came to recruit me on the moon?"

"Yes," the middle aged hero replied with the tiniest of smiles. "Now come on, we got work to do".

**LINEBREAK**

Danny thanked God that there it was still early, and no students had entered the building yet. He envied Dani a little, considering almost no one at the school would know who she was, at least for a while.

He was actually quite worried, not knowing where he was going to hide the bodies of dozens of girls he had absolutely no interest in once Sam was through with them.

He found Sam leaning against her locker, her dark purple spider backpack slung over her shoulder.

"How'd it go?" she asked with a smile as he approached her, he shrugged.

"Lancer was actually really sorry, he said he would have tried to help if he'd known". Sam laughed.

"Apparently he doesn't know that its subconsciously programmed into a kids brain to never trust a teacher."

"True enough", Danny agreed. "But I have to ask you something, you're not gonna do anything to Paulina, are you?"

"Depends," she said seriously, "If she gives me a reason to, I'll fight for what's mine". Danny grinned

"Yours?"

"Damn straight", she said, kissing him tenderly. "I've waited too long for this to give you up that easily." She paused, enjoying his embrace. So did Danielle get her schedule alright?" Danny nodded.

"Guess I got another sister to watch out for now, I swear to god if any guys touches her I'll-", Sam cut him off.

"I don't think you need to worry, if she's anything like you, which she is, the first guy that breaks her heart will get an ecto-blast to the face." Danny chuckled.

"Yeah, but if it's Johny-13, I'll kick his ass, and the Fenton creep stick will get a work out".

"Isn't that just a baseball bat?",Danny nodded.

"You'd be amazed what a bat can do". Just then loud chatters echoed through the halls. They turned to see the front doors of the school open, and the students began to flood in. It started slowly, but eventually turned to full out pandemonium.

Herds of girls, which seemed to be composed of every girl in the entire school, who just happened to come in at the exact same time. And it seemed the fates were against Danny that they _al l _happened to see him at the exact same time.

There were squeals, and screams, and various incomprehensible things hollered at him. Many of which were some form of a declaration of love for the ghostly hero. Danny swore he could see a little fire come from Sam's mouth.

At the head of the pack, naturally, was Paulina, the Hispanic queen of the school with her most innocent, seductive, and yet menacing face on at the same time. At this point Danny was surprised she hadn't been killed yet, his goth girlfriend had her ways…

Then the whole crowd of girls seemed to stop dead in its tracks with a simple snap of Paulina's fingers, danny didn't know what was happening, but Sam did. The shallow witch was claiming first dibs, on _her _guy. Too bad she didn't have the dragon amulet on this time.

She stepped forward, purposely flaunting her curvy features. Sam was glad to see that Danny didn't ogle at her like he used to, or even look like he enjoyed how she looked, hell, he looked annoyed.

"Hey, Danny", she cooed, placing a hand on his chest seductively. Sam nearly burst out laughing at the look of shock on the other girls face when Danny shrugged her hand of roughly. Paulina opened her mouth to speak, but the teenage hybrid cut her off.

"Let me guess," he began coldly. "You want to go out with me now that you know I'm the ghost boy? You've made it perfectly clear that you despise my human half, and you think I'm actually still into you? Your delusional." Paulina looked shocked and angry, by Danny spoke again before she could even open her mouth.

"Besides", he said with a smirk, "I'm already taken". This time every girl in the hall looked completely dumbstruck.

"By who!" they all yelled as one. Sam smirked, stepping forward.

"Me", with that she placed a sot yet passionate kiss on his lips, enjoying all the hateful screams of the jealous an girls.

"Now," Sam said turning to face her new enemies. "I suggest you leave us alone, NOW!" she hissed the last word, opening her mouth to reveal, what Danny knew to be, plastic vampire fangs. There were courses of 'Eeks!' and, 'psycho bitch!', as the girls fled in all directions.

Then they were alone in the hall way, there was a moment of silence as the two turned to look at each other, and then broke down laughing.

"That was priceless", Danny commented, wiping a tear from his eye. "You carry those around with you?" he asked, indicating the vampire fangs she now held in her hand.

"Goths come prepared", she said with a grin, kissing him again lightly. She lay her head on her shoulder, and she saw someone who she Danny would have to have a long talk with enter the school, Valerie.

She tapped him on the shoulder and pointed at the huntress' retreating form, as she headed in the opposite direction towards her locker, Danny looked instantly nervous.

"Don't worry, it'll be ok," she reassured him. "Go talk to her", she urged him. He nodded, and let out a long sigh.

"I want a decent burial, ok?" She slapped him lightly on the shoulder.

"If that happens, her body will never be found." Danny walked down the hall, and found Valerie getting books out of her locker, she hadn't seen him yet. He approached her slowly.

"Hey". She turned to see him, and smiled a little.

"Hey". They stood there awkwardly for a few moments, then Danny spoke.

"I guess we have to talk, huh?" he said nervously, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Yes", she agreed. They had a bit before classes started, and walked outside to one of the picnic tables in the schoolyard. They sat in silence, both unsure about what to say. Eventually, Valerie took the initiative.

"Did you know it was me?", she asked suddenly.

"Huh?" Danny asked confused.

"When we dated, did you know I was the red hunter?" Danny remained silent for a few moments.

"Yes", he finally answered.

"Yet you still went out with me?" she said shaking her head. "Were you ever planning on telling me?"

"Originally, yes, but then I decided it was better if I didn't." Valerie just shook her head again.

"Did you really think that would work out? I would have ound out eventually."

"I guess I kind of just hoped you wouldn't, I'm sorry." Despite herself Valerie smiled.

"Well you did good, saving the world? Cant stay mad at someone once they do that." Danny smiled, immensely relieved that she was so forgiving, and that she still wanted their friendship.

"I guess it's too late to get back together, huh?" she asked hopefully. He nodded sadly.

"Yeah, me and Sam.. well we…." Valerie was hurt, but was happy for him at the same time.

"Always knew you two geeks would end up together", she said punching him on the shoulder. "But if you hurt her, expect a little meeting with my bazooka". Danny grinned.

"Don't worry Val, I'm used to it."


	7. Chapter 7

**I'd like to thank all my reviewers, I'm not gonna list them because I'm a lazy American highschool student, you guys know who you are. Yes, soon we will see Daniels full appearance, but if you want to see Dans, go to my profile it has an image that suits him perfectly. There's also a video on youtube that fits o so well with The ultimate enemy, called "Danny Phantom: Dance with the devil" check it out, it's awesome. Now here we go! One last thing, am I the only one nerdy enough to have the ultimate enemy on itunes?**

Daniel sat in the silence of the underground base, Vlad slept on a bed some distance away. It had been a hectic few days of nonstop training. It was ironic that Vlad had spent so much time trying to convince Danny to become his apprentice, and now he was learning from him.

Well, future Danny but you get the point.

It was Saturday morning, the day of the award ceremony where he was honored by dozens of world leaders, including the president himself, Butch Hartman, (lol) along with vice president Kauffman. It had been an amazing day the first time around.

But now it was doomsday, when all hell would break loose and fire would rain down from the heavens. And all of this demonic fury would driven by the psychopathic rage of a single being. Daniel sighed. These had been such happy days.

He'd began dating the love of his life, tucker and Valerie had started to become close, which would lead up to their eventual marriage, and he'd gained a baby sister, not that he'd ever call her a baby to her face, that was suicide.

He reached into his cloak and pulled from it a tattered photo. There stood a tall man with long black hair, baby blue eyes, and a small black beard on his chin. He had his arm wrapped around the shoulders of astronomically beautiful women, dressed in a violet dress that matched her eyes. This was he and Sam's future.

In front of them stood three children, the tallest on the left stood a boy with snow white hair, and violet eyes, and a goofy grin on his face.

Daniel smiled just looking at his oldest son, Jack. He looked so much like his father, yet it was easy to tell them apart because Jack was born with white hair, and it became black when he entered ghost mode.

On Jack's left stood a shorter girl, with flaming red hair inherited from her grandmothers, and her father's blue eyes. Lilith, or Lily, as she preferred to be called, was the spitting image of her mother, and their personalities were nearly the same.

And in between them sat the youngest of the three, David, who had green eyes, and black hair with a streak of white across the front. He was the meekest of the three, and was quite shy, yet very kind at heart. This was Daniels family.

This was an early photo, taken several years before Dan's return, when they were eight, six, and four consecutively. When Dan returned, Jack had been fourteen, Lily twelve, and David ten, all superheroes in training.

A single tear fell from Daniel's eyes as the memories came rushing back. But what was more saddening was the fact that he didn't even know if they were possible anymore, they couldn't be with Dan on the loose. He was the world only hope, and that wasn't him bragging, it was fact.

Although his younger self was exceptionally strong, he was nowhere near Dan's level. And Danielle, who had little ghost fighting experience, was even farther away, and had not yet developed her new powers, powers over fire.

It should have been predictable that she'd develop new abilities during puberty as he had, and since she was a girl, with a flipped chromosome, she received the opposite of ice powers, fire powers. And Sam lacked her plant powers, and wouldn't acquire them for another year on this timeline, when Undergrowth would return. Dani's fire powers REALLY helped with that fight.

It was the fact that she eventually became a halfa that made their children half ghosts, as supposed to quarter ghosts.

All together, this times current team phantom couldn't come close to the amount to the strength Dan possessed, they were nothing but worms in comparison, and would be defeated in no time at all. He was tired, no exhausted, but he could not sleep, would not sleep.

Because all he heard when he closed his eyes were their screams. He wiped away the tear, and a new look of determination formed on his face. He would save them, and silence the screams once and for all.

Danny sat in a long, high class limousine with the rest of his family, Sam, and Tucker, heading downtown to the big award ceremony being held in his honor. It was also where the new government funded team phantom would be announced to the public.

It had been an extremely hectic week. At school, he'd had to deal with fan girls, which had been dealt with by Sam, his newfound popularity with the a-list kids, who'd offered him the place at the cool table he no longer wanted. Classes however were much better. He no longer had to sneak out of or blow off classes all together, and his grades had already started to improve.

All his free time had been spent with Sam, Tucker, and Valerie, mostly Sam. He was very happy to see that Tucker was getting pretty close to the girl he once had a crush on, and that Valerie had been able to move on like he did. Turns out Tucker was able to help upgrade her battle suit and jet sled, it's always useful to have a techno-geek on hand, even if he called his PDA 'baby'.

It had been funny watching his dad struggle in his tux, and even funnier watching his mom try to convince him to take off his jumpsuit, and not wear it underneath.

Danny had to admit he was nervous. He was meeting all of the world's most powerful leaders, and several ghost leaders would be attending as well, including Frostbite, and Princess Dora.

Sam wore a beautiful violet dress, the same one she'd worn to the school dance in fact, and wore her hair up in the same style. Tucker, like Danny wore a tuxedo, yet still wore his beret. As he put it, he was "a mayor with style", Danny and Sam had literally rolled on the ground with laughter at that comment.

"You ok, Danny?" Sam asked, noticing his the nervous look on his face, she could always tell.

"Yeah, I'm fine", he answered. "I'm just a little nervous". She took his hand reassuringly as she spoke.

"Danny, they're just leaders, it's not like they're Vlad or anything. It'll be ok, it's not like you can embarrass yourself in front of them, they cant judge you after what you did."Danny gave her a peck on the lips gratefully.

"Have I mentioned how much I love you lately?"

"Only once every ten seconds". Tucker teased with a grin. Sam shot him a glare.

"Thanks for the input Mr. 'make a fortune off my friends getting together'". Everyone laughed.

"How much money did you make anyway?" Dani asked curiously. It had been tough convincing the young clone to wear a dress, her being the tomboy that she is.

"Enough", Tucker answered simply, absentmindedly fingering a large wad of bills he pulled from his suit pocket.

"I made three hundred", Jazz said from other side of the limo, where she sat beside her parents.

"Did everyone in town bet on us?" Danny asked, getting annoyed about the amount of money people were making off him.

"Yes", everyone apart from him and Sam answered at once. There was a moment before everyone broke down laughing.

"Honestly sweetie", Maddie began. "I think everyone in town had at least _some_ money riding on you", she glanced at Tucker. "He just started it".

"Figures", Danny said flatly. At that moment the limousine pulled into the stadium parking lot, which was full to bursting with cars. In fact, every single person in Amnity was attending the ceremony, and it would be aired worldwide.

They were escorted to seats in the front row, while Tucker went backstage. As mayor he would be introducing the leaders and Danny himself.

They sat down, not knowing that just a few feet below them was someone they still considered foe, suppressing his ecto presence.

"Daniel", Vlad whispered into the microphone of his headset. "I'm in position".

"Good", Daniel replied quietly. "Wait for my signal".

The leaders were seated in a row of padded seats on the stage itself, in front of which was a speech podium, dozens of microphones placed in front of it.

President Hartman was having a friendly conversation with Frostbite, surprisingly not intimidated by the massive yeti ghost. Dora sat quietly beside him. It took several minutes for the chatter to quiet down, allowing Tucker to step out on stage, greeted by a kind round of applause.

"People of Amnity park," tucker began diplomatically. "Esteemed leaders of the world, we have gathered here today to honor the world's greatest hero, who singlehandedly brought us together in our darkest hour. Please give a warm welcome to my best friend, the one and only, Danny Phantom".

The crowd erupted into applause as Danny approached the stage nervously. He took his place behind the podium, and at once everyone fell silent.

"I guess I'd like to start by saying thank you all for coming, I don't really think I deserve this, but I'm very honored. After today, Team phantom will be receiving government funding, and I'd just like to say that I never would have been able to do any of this without them. Before we get into any awards I'd like to introduce our newest member, Danielle Fenton."

Confused murmurs echoed throughout the crowd before Danny continued.

"She is a clone, created by Vlad masters using my DNA, she has all my powers and I'm proud to call her my sister and teammate." Dani blushed at this comment.

Danny could distinctly hear high school students whispering, "So that's why they look so much alike".

" I am also glad to welcome to the team veteran ghost hunter Valerie Grey, I know from personal experience that she knows her way around ghost weapons".

It was Valerie's turn to blush, she was probably the most thankful for joining the team, as now that she would be paid to hunt ghosts, she could quit her horrid job at the nasty burger.

It was just when Danny was about to end his speech, and step down from the podium, that it started. Maniacal laughter filled the stadium from an unknown source. Freaked out citizens looked in all directions, this definitely wasn't mention in the program.

Then Danny and Dani's ghost senses went off, both of them instinctively transforming into their ghostly forms. Then the laughter ceased, and a voice that Danny had hoped never to hear again replaced it.

"Always so noble, aren't you Danny? But don't this people know what you are destined to become? Know what their hero really is? Allow me to enlighten them." Then above the stage materialized the being that had plagued Danny's nightmares for a year, his greatest fear, Dark Dan.

"No…. not you… anyone but you!" Danny gasped in horror, as countless screams echoed from the people in the crowd. Dan sighed annoyed at their interruption.

"Do you people mind? We're having a conversation here". Her flicked his wrist, and massive amounts of ecto-goo was slung from his finger tips, instantly binding and gagging everyone present. Needless to say everyone was horrified. Sam and tucker had met him once, but everyone else had never encountered nor heard of Dan.

Danny was scared, horrified in fact, but most of all confused. Wasn't he supposed to be imprisoned in Clockwork's tower? And what was with the armor, the sword on his back, and the horns? None of theses questions could be asked, as Danny was now unable to speak or move, on his knees.

"I suppose you're all wondering who I am", Dan began calmly. Pacing before the crowd on the stage. "You see, young Danny and I am one in the same. For I am his future, what he is destined to become, your hero is destined to become the villain, and bring death to you all".

"NO!" a new booming voice erupted from nowhere. "You know that is a lie Dan. You aren't him, he doesn't become you, he never becomes you!" Everyone's eyes bulged as a new figure materialized floating in front of the stage. He was clothed in a black robe that concealed all his features, all except for his glowing green eyes.

"He never becomes you," the figure said again, with more emphasis. "He becomes me!" With one fluid motion the cloak was cast aside, causing muffled gasps from the terrified populous. He had long white hair that fell to his shoulders, and a massive sword on his back.

Covering body was what appeared to be highly advanced cybernetic armor, consisting of form fitting metal plates that glowed green where they separated. And in the center of his chest, glowing brightly was the trademark DP emblem.

"Ah Daniel, I was wondering when you'd arrive", Dan said with an amused smirk. "Such a waste of power really, you walking to your death".

"You know he wont become you Dan, the only reason you exist is because you operate outside of time, and the only reason you're here is fate". Dan cackled at his counterparts comment.

"Fate? Have you really been listening to that crackpot time master's pointless mantra's? Wow, you really have gone insane, then again watching helplessly as your family dies will do that to you, just look at me."

While Dan said this, Daniel calmed his mind, slowly brining himself to full power. He had an advantage here, and that was that his obsession was present, Sam. For when a ghost mastered their obsession of a person, their presence alone can multiply their power two fold. Dan however, sensed this, laughing ruefully.

"Are you really drawing strength from _her?_ You really have to draw power from an outside source? No matter, prepare to watch her die a second time." He let off a quick energy blast, straight in Sam's direction, right beside the Fentons.

"Now!" Daniel hissed into the microphone in his gauntlet. Right as the attack was about to hit, a purple dome of energy formed around the family, trembling underneath the attack. Dan's face looked incredulous as he turned to Daniel, looking incredibly amused.

"Vlad? You brought Vlad? You're so desperate that you recruited the broken down old bastard to help you? Oh that is so rich!" He cackled again, and Vlad dropped the shield, and floated upward.

"You were right Daniel," he said to his friend, his eyes giving Dan a death glare. "This guy really is a prick."

"Indeed he is," Daniel agreed, drawing the sword from his back, pointing at Dan at neck level. "This is between us Dan, just you, and me". Dan nodded, drawing the soul shredder. Daniel's eyes flashed blue as ice incased his left arm, forming an icy shield.

"You always were like that Daniel," he commented, glancing down at the bound Danny below them. "Even at that age you were so noble, always seeing yourself as expendable", he grinned maliciously "especially after our last encounter".

The talking ended there, and before anyone could blink they were in each other's faces, blades locked. Black energy flowed from Dan, as blue-white flowed from Daniel, positive and negative, good and evil, dark and light clashed together as two opposite forces. They fought fiercely, blades clanging throughout the stadium.

It was an incredible, yet terrible thing to watch. The two warriors teleported in quick succession, flashing all over the places. If one were to blink they'd miss the whole thing.

Energy was slung from the tips of each sword, bits of debris falling everywhere in their wake.

"You can't beat me Dan," Daniel said panting when the battle paused. "I'm just as strong as you are", he said holding his sword aloft, ready to strike again. Dan laughed.

"Yes, I admit that you have grown immensely in power since last we met. After all you did acquire the sword of unity, I'm rather impressed. No matter though, these horns are more than a makeover you see, now the whole world will burn!"

Dan ceased his flight, plummeting back down to the stage. He rose the soul shredder, and plunged it into the ground. A long crack formed where the blade met the ground, and spread all around, red light emerging from within.

"Oh no," Daniel whispered in disbelief, he turned to Dan, "You didn't". Dan smirked.

"Indeed I did, Lucifer was quite a disappointing opponent. I am the new infernal king, and I will accomplish what he never could!"The cracks became pits, and massive winged demons wielding weapons of every kind imaginable emerged. Suppressed screams came from everyone, as the army of hell entered the world.

"Vlad!" Daniel bellowed to his ally, "release them!" Vlad nodded, cutting the Fentons's and Sam's ecto bonds. Daniel turned to his young self and cut his bonds. Danny opened his mouth to speak but Daniel wasn't paying attention.

As the world began to succumb to the devils presence, he plunged the sword of unity into the earth. It began to glow bright white, as did Daniel himself, and the ground became intangible, and the whole town of Amnity fell into the ground, down to Daniel's hidden shielded base.


	8. Chapter 8

**Hi everybody! I'm back! This chapter is going to be exceptionally long because we are finally going to see the orb of memory from the first chapter put into use. I hope you enjoy it!**

It was natural that the citizens of Amnity Park would go into a state of panic once they reached the shielded base below the streets. Then again, who wouldn't panic when they literally saw the rise of the devil? The people continued to scream in confusion and fear, Frostbite and Dora failing miserably to calm them down, Danny just standing there, unable to accept that Dan was back.

"QUIET!" a voice boomed throughout the cavern. Everyone immediately fell silent and turned to see Daniel floating high above them, Vlad by his side, invisible.

"What you saw up there was not the future of Danny Phantom, I am". He gave down at Danny who looked up at him, confusion evident in his eyes. "That being is not what will be, he is what could have been.

He calls himself Dan, Dan Phantom, and he hails from a dark alternate future, in which Danny…….I……..we lost everyone to a freak accident, leading up to events that lead us down the path of darkness, where I lost my human half and all that is left is a ghostly shell, with my memories." He paused, and chatters spread across the crowd, the Fentons especially looked confused, Sam's parents looked as though they were expecting it.

"In this future I was left broken and alone, and in an act of desperation I turned to Vlad Masters, to remove my human emotion that was torturing me. But when my ghost side was extracted it became enraged, and ripped away Vlad's ghost half, and absorbed it's power, then killed what was left of my human half.

People gasped, yet didn't interrupt.

"He went on a ten year rampage of destruction, held at bay only by the valiant efforts of Valerie Grey". Head turned to a shocked blushing Valerie. "It was an act of fate that I was flung into that future, and was able to prevent it from ever happening, thus changing my own destiny. What happened was that I cheated on the C.A.T tests, which caused Mr. Lancer to call my parents to meet him at the nasty burger.

At the same time Sam and Tucker came to warn me of a ghost attack. Then the nasty sauce vats went critical, killing everyone. Dan tried to recreate these events, to assure his future, that's when I confronted him.

Danny looked horrified at what Daniel was telling them, floating up to face level with him.

"Are you really me?" he nearly whispered. "I thought Clockwork had him! How did he get out!" he demanded, his temper rising, eyes glowing fiercely.

"Yes, I'm really you kid, and he escaped from Clockwork, twenty two years from now. You and I have a lot to talk about, but these people have a right to know what's going on, then I can answer all of your questions." Danny opened his mouth to protest, but Daniel began to speak again, pulling from his belt the orb of memory.

"This," he said holding it up "is the orb of memory, given to me by the ghost master of time so that I can show you the past, or in my case the past."

He held the orb tightly in his palm, letting his energy flow through it. The glassy orb began to glow brightly, and a massive bubble like sphere formed around it. In Clockwork's written instructions, it had told Daniel that the orb contained a few scenes he himself had not seen, but they were necessary for the memories to make sense to an outsider.

It seemed to be filled with an odd silvery fog, which then cleared to reveal one of the most profound moments the teenaged Danny had experienced.

_It was evening on the main street of Amnity park. An odd vortex-like cloud swirled in the sky and the street lights had not yet illuminated the city. The Nasty burger lay in the center of the street, and as nearly in ruins, the nasty sauce vat exposed and steaming in the back._

_Mr. Lancer was standing in front of the ruined restaurant arms folded, looking angrier and more irritable than usual. There was a loud rumbling noise as the "Fenton family ghost assault vehicle", or the RV pulled up, containing the Fenton parents, and Dan, disguised as Danny._

"_Mr. Lancer seemed urgent on the phone", Maddie said worriedly. "Is something wrong, Danny?"_

"_Not yet", Dan said, his eyes flashing scarlet._

"_Mr. and Mrs. Fenton, Daniel," Lancer began as the three exited the oversized car. "This is the Nasty Burger. When people fail, this is where they end up. Whether they fail because they don't study, or they fail because they cheat", he finished, holding up the answer folder, the Fenton parents gasped. _

"_Danny," Jack began, his eyes narrowing turning to who he thought was his son. "Is this true?"_

"_Did you cheat?" Maddie asked, looking shocked._

"_You have to get out of here!"_

_They all turned to see Sam and Tucker sprinting towards them. They stopped in front of them, out of breath._

"_The Nasty Burger's gonna blow, and we're three feet from it!" Tucker exclaimed, arms flailing in emphasis. _

"_South beach diet people!" Lancer yelled angrily ,"What's going on here?!"_

"_I'll tell you what's going on". They all turned to see Jazz, decked out in the 'Fenton Peeler' armor, gun raised. "Or better yet, show you". The gun pinged into life, letting a cone shaped wave of energy fly from its barrel._

_Dan shrieked as his disguise was ripped away, leaving him on all fours, the tatters of his shell splayed out around him. He wore a hazmat suit, the DP emblem on his chest, wore a long cape and had flaming hair, everyone gasped. _

"_That's not Danny!" Jazz nearly screamed. Instantly Jack and Maddie drew ecto-pistols and had them primed and aimed at the ghost at their feet. _

"_Where is he? Where's our son?!" Jack demanded._

"_What have you done to our boy?!" Maddie exclaimed. Dan started to emit a low amused chuckled as he lifted his head to meet their gaze._

"_I AM your boy!" _

"_What?!" Maddie squealed as Sam, Tucker, and Mr. Lancer took on horrified faces._

"_What kind of parents are you anyway?" Dan asked as he leapt into the air, floating ten feet above their heads."You're the worlds leading ghost experts and you cant figure out that your own son was half ghost!"_

"_For the record", Jack said to his wife, "I blame you"._

"_Hello! Danny Fenton, Danny Phantom! Ever notice the similarities? Jazz did" he said, peering at Jazz who was now giving him a death glare._

"_She did?" Sam and Tucker said together. _

"_Liar! Don't move!" Jack exclaimed, raising his gun again. _

"_Actually nobodies' going anywhere", Dan said, his face turning harsh as his eyes flashed."Not until it's time for you to be blown everywhere!" With a wave of his arm, Dan released a massive rope of ecto goo, pinning the Fenton parents, Sam, Tucker and Mr. Lancer to the Nasty sauce vat, covering their mouths in the same manner._

_Jazz sprinted forward, attempting to punch her brother's evil ego in the back, only to watch her fist pass right through._

"_That's right Jazz", Dan said as he turned his neck 360 like an owls. "My future, I'm inevitable!" In an instant Dan split himself into three duplicates, surrounding Jazz. She screamed as one removed her helmet, and then her mouth was covered with ecto goo. She as flung onto the vat by an ecto rope, joining her family._

"_Hey old man!" a voice seemed to call from nowhere. "Ready for a blast from your past!" Danny came zooming out of the vortex in the sky, fists forward clad in a backpack and belt full of ghost weapons. Dan wasn't expecting it and was flung far into the distance._

_Danny hovered before his family friends and teachers._

"_I won't turn into that, ever, I promise". He turned to Mr. Lancer with a sheepish smile."I guess this sorta explains my periodic absences, huh?" Suddenly a cord of energy wrapped around his waist and as pulled close to his evil self._

"_What are you gonna do? Waste me? What happens to you then?" Dan laughed._

"_You still don't get it , do you? I'm still here, I still exist. That means you still turn into me". Dan spun around and flung Danny with great force. There was a loud crack as he made contact with a street lamp, his backpack falling off._

"_I don't have to waste you, I just have to run out the clock until your whole life falls apart." He did a dive bomb towards Danny, his snake like tongue flailing beside him. Danny phased through the street and reappeared a good twenty yards away._

"_Maybe if you'd remembered more about your family, you'd have remembered the specter deflector". He flew towards Dan, pulling from the backpack a silvery green metal belt and latching around the villains waist, causing him to shriek in pain. "or the ghost gauntlets!" _

_With that he pummeled Dan with a pair of massive of metal gloves, sending him flying into an oil tanker. There was a loud bang as the ghost's hair ignited the fuel. Danny gazed into the flames, then turned and walked away. Within moments, Dan emerged, forcibly ripping the belt off. _

_He grabbed Danny and slammed him to the ground, splitting into four different beings._

"_Your time's up Danny, it's been up for ten years". The four Dan's slammed their glowing fists into their younger incarnation, pummeling him with blow after blow until he was crumpled on the ground, bleeding red-green blood all over the street._

"_What makes you think you can change my past?" Dan asked as he merged back into a single being._

"_Because I promised my family!" Danny managed to choke out as he struggled to his knees, his wound taking their toll. Dan cackled at the ridiculousness of the statement._

"_You are such a child!" he sneered. "You promised?"_

"_Yes!" Danny screamed as he finally got to his feet. "I PROMISED!" As the words left his lips a roar like cry emerged. The whole street trembled as glass shattered and cars flew in all directions. Dan flew a hundred yards back, grinding into the ground, forming a small crater._

"_That power!" Dan gasped. "That's impossible! I don't get that power until ten years from now." Danny limped towards his enemy, clutching his side._

"_I guess the future isn't as set in stone as you think it is". With that he poured on his power, all his will and determination into a single attack, a god like wail flying from his lips. Dan was slammed backwards into an apartment building, several cars following suit, causing the whole structure to crumble. Now that all of his energy was spent, Danny reverted to his human form._

_There was a moment of silence until a gloved hand erupted from the rubble, slinging it all away. Dan was covered in green blood, and half of his fiery mane was smother. He held his side in pain as he spoke._

"_So," he sneered, "That's it isn't it?" Danny's eyes glowed a fierce green._

"_Time's up!" In one quick motion he drew the Fenton thermos from his belt. A beam of blue light erupted from within and it began to forcibly suck the dark ghost inside._

"_I will escape! And you're too late to save them!" Dan cried as he entered the thermos. Danny smiled as he capped the containment unit, then it dawned on him._

"_Oh no". He turned on his heel and sprinted back towards the Nasty Burger where his family and friends still remained bound. There was a loud beeping noise as the vats went critical._

"_No!" Danny yelled as he tripped, falling forwards onto the hard ground. He looked up hopelessly at his family and friends. The explosion was incredible, and it slung Danny high into the air._

Everyone in the cave screamed in horror, Maddie's loudest of all.

_Then suddenly everything froze, and a clocklike portal formed beside Danny, and out of it floated Clockwork in his infant form. He slipped a CW medallion around the young halfa's neck, causing him to regain control of his body and consciousness. He looked around quickly and gasped when he saw the time master beside him._

"_Clockwork?" The ghost simply pointed, and Danny turned to see everyone floating before him unconscious, completely unharmed._

"_You saved them? I don't understand"._

_The observant look at time like they're watching a parade, one thing after another passing by in sequence right in front of them". He spread his arms over the scene. "I see the parade from the above, all the twists and turns life might, or might not take", he finished with a wink._

"_You knew this was going to happen" Danny said understanding, "all of it, even this part". _

"_Everything's the way it's supposed to be, and here we are with you a fourteen year old child risking everything to save the people you care about"._

"_Time in!" he called, pushing the button on his staff. In a flash they stood in the classroom, two hours earlier. Clockwork picked up the C.A.T folder from Danny's desk and handed it to him._

"_You've given everyone in your life a second chance, why not you?"_

The scene faded, and the orb returned to its capsule. There was a long silence, everyone standing there in shock. The Daniel spoke.

"When in the search of darkness one must look no farther than themselves, for we all carry our greatest foe within". After a long start, it was Valerie who started it, slow at first, then steadily faster, applause. Frostbite was the next to follow suit, the Dora and the Fenton's, and soon everyone was clapping.

"Now," Daniel said, raising his hand to silence the crowd. "As you can tell, Dan has escaped, and gained an unfathomable amount of power. The shield surrounding this cavern is specifically designed to repel him and his servants. There is enough food to last a year and adequate bedding for everyone, now if you'll excuse me, I have battle plans to make."

He gestured to Danny, then the Fentons, and surprisingly, the Mansons, Tucker, and Valerie to follow him. He led them to the back chamber. They entered the room, where the module that Daniel used to power the cave still stood. There was a really awkward silence, which stood for a whole minute before broken.

"So, explain", Danny said bluntly. Daniel sighed.

"Wasn't that enough? I think I explained everything in there well enough".

"No you didn't", Danny snapped back. "You left huge holes in your story, for one, what the fuck was Vlad doing up there!?" Usually Maddie would have chastised her sons language, but everyone was thinking along the exact same lines.

"Allow me to explain", Daniel said diplomatically. "Vlad, reveal yourself." With a small pop Vlad materialized. It was no surprise that in an instant Jack and Maddie had drawn ecto guns, and Danny and Dani powered up their own ecto blasts, all four releasing them.

Raising a single finger, Daniel erected a shield in front of his ally.

"Please, I have much to explain. The future holds many things, both good", he quickly glanced at Sam, "and horrible. So I beg all of you to hear me out, and all will be revealed to you".

**Woo! Ok now the next chapter will be nearly all flashbacks, as Daniel will use the orb to show the future. You'll get to see the characters reactions to Vlad's redemption, Danny and Sams marriage, and the traumatic event that led to Daniels search for the sword of unity. I promise, it's gonna be epic!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Ok everybody! I'm back for chapter nine. This chapter will have massive plot development as it will show much of Daniels life. So you'll see how Sam gets her powers, Dani gets fire powers, Danny's proposal and marriage. Sorry it took so long, I'm grounded, so I'm typing this in scret, but don't tell my mom! **

Daniel tightened his hands around the orb of memory, looking around the room nervously, unsure of where he was supposed to begin.

"Now, I wish I had a lot more time, then, I'd show you everything up until my time. But instead I'll show you the most profound bits, that will make you understand the future I come from." He paused, looking over at Vlad. "Just so no one's tempted", he said, generating a shield around Vlad so that no one would give into the urge to kill him while Daniel was concentrating on the orb.

"Now I have a lot to show you, so this could take a while, but it's all necessary for you to understand the future from which I hail", everyone nodded in agreement.

He grasped the orb tightly and closed his eyes, letting the massive stores of power flow from his mind and heart. The orb flashed brightly, and once again formed a massive bubble like sphere, filled with translucent white fog.

At first there were only flashes of memory, images of Danny and Sam, everyone really, looking slightly older.

"It started when we were eighteen", Daniel narrated from the sidelines, speaking slowly as not to break his concentration. They looked eighteen too. There overall appearances were all essentially the same, except Danny's hair was longer, pulled into a short ponytail, Sam's hair was now shoulder length and she wore jeans with a long sleeved violet shirt that masked her eyes.

Tucker was exactly the same, the same dumb beret, same dorky glasses, all that was new was a shiny looking PDA. Valerie was slightly different as well, like the others she was taller, but she now simply looked older, more muscular from her ghost fighting training.

"It was a completely normal day until Sam started hearing voices in her head", Daniel continued, glancing over at the goth across from him. "We all thought it was nothing, so naturally something horrible happened, Undergrowth came back."

He saw his younger selves face contort with confusion and anger, yet remain silent. Everyone else looked confused, as no one but he, Sam, and Tucker could remember that the plant themed ghost had almost taken over the planet.

"Undergrowth is a massive plant ghost who was bent on covering the entire planet with a dense forest of monstrous plants. He tried to feed of humans, and the first time he used Sam as his brainwashed servant because of her attachment to the world of flora."

Sam looked down, still ashamed that she'd let herself be taken over. Her parents however looked both shocked and furious, seeing this as a reason for not allowing her to associate herself with Danny, as it had put her in danger in the past.

Daniel sighed, he knew that Sam was incredibly depressed after she was possessed a second time, not because she had been left with ghost powers, but because she had been turned against him, and gravely injured him in the process.

"Sam, you're not going to like this, but you have to see this for anything else to make sense." Sam looked confused, but she had some idea of what he meant.

"…What do you mean?" she asked, an eyebrow cocked glancing at her boyfriend beside her, who looked just as confused. Daniel sighed once again.

"That, I have to show you." With that he pumped the whole memory into the orb. The flashes stopped, and the scene solidified.

_The scene formed, revealing the streets of downtown Amnity park. It appeared empty, and eerily quiet. Then suddenly a manhole exploded open, out if it was flung a screaming Danny. He hit the top of a street lamp and slumped to the ground. _

_There was a loud lurching sound as twisting wrenching vines erupted out of the manhole, wrapping themselves tightly around all the buildings on the street, making it look like some kind of supernatural swamp filled with odd flowers, spewing purple mist and gases everywhere. _

_Then out of the mass of spiky glowing vines emerged a massive being with a humanoid-like torso, a nose like a bird's beak and eyes that glowed a dark, evil shade of green, Undergrowth. The giant cackled in a deep raspy voice as Danny got to his feet, ready to fight. _

"_Ah Phantom", Undergrowth drawled, amusement clear in his eyes. "Why do you continue to defy the growth, you know that you must sub-"Danny cut him off quickly._

"_Look, can we skip the part where you scream your plans to the sky, try to convert me to your side, and just skip to the part where I kick your ass?" Undergrowth chuckled as Danny flew up level to his head, his eyes flashing blue as he prepared an icy blast. _

"_Really, Phantom? You don't think that I can't remember the tactics you used last time? Well I know exactly how to turn you Phantom, it's humorous that I don't even need any new assets from the last time, I just have to know how to use it properly." _

_He raised his massive moss covered hand and with it rose a massive black rose flower, its pedals closed. It slowly opened, and out of it came something he had hoped to never have to see again, Sam in her possessed plant-ghost form. _

_She was just as she had appeared nearly three years ago. Wearing a short, skintight green dress that was cut off at mid thigh level, long elbow length gloves, and possessing glowing green eyes with strange black markings around them, she perfectly fit the description of a supernatural seductress. _

"_No…" escaped Danny's lips, barely more than a whisper. _

"_Hello Danny", Sam cooed in a smooth, electrifying voice that made his skin crawl and heart flutter. _

"_S-Sam", he stuttered, still mentally kicking himself for letting this happen to her again. She slowly stepped out of her flower, perfectly showing off her curves as she walked towards him._

"_Join us Danny," she said with a twinkle in her deep pupil less eyes. "It's the only way that you can avoid your ultimate demise…..and that way you can have me." The look on Danny's face made it evident that he was finding it hard to refuse this offer. It was with great effort that he stood, and spoke firmly. _

"_Sam, this isn't you, you have to fight it!" Sam chuckled as her ghostly her ghostly controller laughed maniacally in the background. _

"_Oh Danny", she said softly. "You're so naïve, the again that's one of the things I love about you". Her eyes twinkled again, her natural powers of seduction becoming magnified ten fold._

"_There's nothing to fight, I'm the same girl that you fell in love with Danny……and all you need to do to have me is join the growth…..or I'll be forced to destroy you." _

"_You know I can't do that Sam", he took a step back as log curled vies erupted out of her back and forearms. _

"_Sam, you don't want to do this"._

"_You're right", she said as a tear fell down her cheek. "But I must"._

_Danny barely had enough time to dodge as she lunged at him, vines flailing in all directions trying to tear at any part of him it could reach. Dagger-like rose petals launched at him like high speed ninja stars, shattering widows all over the street. _

_Danny could have right then and there, blasted her to pieces or frozen her solid but her couldn't, wouldn't do it. All he could do was defend and evade, but eventually he would run out of power, ad be done for. He raised a fizzing green ecto shield as a fresh barrage of petals were flung at him. _

_A single projectile broke through his slowly weakening shield, sticking him just below the armpit. This opportunity was noticed, and taken. This had been undergrowth's plan all along, he knew he wouldn't fight back, and he could only defend so long when she had a near limitless amount of power, provided via undergrowth. _

_Green and red blood leaked from the wound as he raised his remaining arm, charging an icy blast, aiming past Sam directly at Undergrowth. But right as he was about release it Sam positioned herself directly between Danny and her 'father'. Danny glared up at the flora master._

"_Using a dude's girlfriend as a shield, that is so not cool!" he bellowed at his snickering foe. He quickly smothered the ice in his hands, and quickly spun around only to be struck across the face by an extremely spiky vine. _

_He plummeted to the ground, and was immediately met with a barrage of plant based attacks. The vines ripped at his arms and chest, blood pouring everywhere, exposing muscle and cracking bone as they went. And when it finally stopped, Sam was floating above him, hand raised ready to strike._

"_Well done, daughter", Undergrowth said approvingly. "Now finish him". Sam looked down at the boy who loved her, who would not fight her even when he could easily defeat her. Her hand was shaking and her lips were trembling. Then she lowered her hand. _

"_I am sorry father," she said to her master. "I cannot, he means far too much to me". Undergrowth grumbled bitterly. _

"_Very well, I will finish this myself", he said shoving her to the side with his dump truck sized hand. He looked down at Danny, who even in his wounded state had struggled slowly to his knees, and pulled from his belt the Fenton thermos._

"_HA!" Undergrowth cackled. "Do you really believe that you can hold me in that?" Danny laughed weakly, blood trickling from the side of his mouth, raising the thermos. Undergrowth spread his chest out, as if daring him to try his pathetic weapon. But what he was not aware of was that HE was not his target._

_The blue beam erupted from the thermos, and shot right past Undergrowth's left shoulder, hitting Sam dead on. She shrieked and writhed as it pulled her, and Danny closed it, smirking up at his enemy. Undergrowth howled in rage, vines and arms flailing in anger. _

"_Return my queen to me at once!" he bellowed._

"_Yeah, not gonna happen", Danny croaked, clipping the thermos to his belt, raising his trembling hands. A considerably weakened beam of ice was issued forth from his finger tips, slowly encasing the giant ghost. But Danny noticed that the layer was thinner than it need to be, and Undergrowth did nothing to resist._

_Finally all of his energy spent, succumbing to his grievous injuries, he collapsed. The ice shattered, and Undergrowth was free, looking down at his opponent with contempt._

"_How the mighty have fallen, eh Phantom" he sneered. "Who knew that it would be your attachment to a girl that would kill you. I have to admit I'm disappointed."_

"_Yeah I wouldn't count on it", a new voice said. It took Danny's effort to lift his head and see Dani land beside him. _

"_Hey bro, I'll take over from here". She raised her hands, and with a crack, massive balls of blue flame formed in her hands. "I found out why I was sweating so much", she said with a grin. Without another word she thrust her hands forward, evoking the ghost in white flames. _

_He shrieked and writhed, all his roots starting to die with him. And then he became a black husk on the ground, seeping green fluid everywhere. Then the fog cleared, and the memory ended._

Everyone literally had their mouths hanging open in shock. Sam was trembling, mascara running from her tears of horror at what she had/would do to him, simply because he wouldn't fight back.

"It wasn't your fault Sam", both Danny and Daniel said at the same time. They flashed looks in each other's directions before Daniel continued.

"It really wasn't Sam. Twelve hours in Frostbite's rejuvenation tank and I'm back on my feet." He paused, trying to figure out how to say the next bit. "But things change after that. You see, by using the Fenton thermos on you, it bound the ectoplasm to your body, you kept you powers, and became a halfa."

If they looked shocked before, it was nothing compared to this.

"I….. get powers?" Sam asked weakly, tears still in her eyes. Daniel smiled warmly at her.

"Yeah, you call yourself the Black Rose, we spent the next summer re-growing the rainforest." He looked over at the Manson parents, who still were frozen in shock and terror. "And you two stop hating me at that point, you said that you're fine with anyone willing to do that dating your daughter."

They still remained silent, but looked like they had been thinking the exact same thing.

"Then again, " Daniel continued. "It's a good thing considering what happens next".

"Wait!" Dani interrupted, nearly giddy with energy, "How the heck did I do that!?" she asked, obviously referring to her display within the memory. Daniel laughed at her enthusiasm.

"Well, just like I developed new powers during puberty, so did you. The only difference is since you have one opposite chromosome from me, you developed the opposite of my ice powers, fire powers."

"Awesome!", everyone at least chuckled at this. Then Daniel took back his serious demeanor.

"There's more you have to see, and from here on in, I'm not going to stop."

He activated the orb once again, and the fog formed into a new scene, one that Danny and Sam knew all too well.

_It was early evening, and the sky was orange and pink with the setting sun. Danny and Sam walked up the hill hand in hand, both wearing graduation gowns. They sat close to one another, Sam's head on Danny's shoulder as they leaned against the tree. She sighed contentedly._

"_Wow, I can't believe we got out of there alive"._

"_Yeah", Danny agreed. "Who knew a I'd want to leave a party so bad." They sat in silence for a few moments. _

"_It's hard to believe we've graduated, it feels like we've been in highschool forever"._

"_Well highschool has been an eventful time for us" Danny said with his trademark grin. "You know, supernatural powers, averting the apocalypse like a dozen time, regular kid stuff". They both laughed and sighed, leaning closer together. _

"_I just don't know how much longer we have" Sam said with a sad look crawling across her face. "Until we have to go off to college". Danny smiled._

"_I don't know, you tell me". Sam looked confused as he pulled her to her feet. The look on her face was absolutely priceless as he dropped to one knee, and pulled from his pocket a black box. _**(so cheesy I know but it has to be done)**

_The ring was large, and set in it was a violet diamond that shone brightly in the sun, perfectly matching the serene orbs that were Sam's eyes. Danny cleared his throat._

"_Sam, you've been my best friend for longer than I can remember, watched my back and stood by me even when I've acted like a totally clueless jerk, and I don't deserve any of it, but I have to ask. Sam Manson, will you marry me?" _

_He took it as a clear yes when vines erupted out of her forearms and pulled him into a searing kiss. When she finally pulled away she said quietly. _

"_You've always been a strange one, Mr. Fenton, but you're mine"._

_The fog shifted, and dozens of scenes flashed before them. The wedding, with Sam wherein a light gray dress, wrapped in a kiss reminiscent of the one he had just shared. The wedding of Tucker and Valerie, the births of their children, and then the scene focused on what would be remembered as Daniels worst memory._

_The scene became a large house, decorated with dark colors and showing evidence of being the home of several teenagers. The doorbell rang, and a boy who looked about ten with blue eyes, and black hair streaked with white ran to answer it._

"_Uncle Tucker! Aunt Val! Tyler, Kate, what's up?" At the door were an older Tucker and Valerie, in between them a boy who looked very much like Tucker, but with Valerie's athletic qualities. The girl looked all but identical to Valerie._

"_Hey David" Valerie said smiling. "You kids have fun, while we go have 'adult' conversation". She paused and looked at her husband. "On second thought you'd better stay here honey". They all laughed._

"_Yeah, yeah, I've hear it before not come on, I wanna see what Danny has done with the new suit". The adult left, leaving the three kids alone. _

"_Hey Dave" Kate said smiling, looking around the immediate area. "Is Lil's around?" Suddenly a translucent hand reached up through the floor and pulled Kate to the ground. The boys burst out laughing as a girl about twelve phased up through the floor. _

_She had snow white hair, obviously in ghost form, and had a LP sewed onto her silvery jumpsuit, and was giggling like mad. Kate's eyes burned with anger. _

"_Oh you are so gonna get it". She clicked her heels together and a blue suit formed around her body, as well as a metallic hover board. The two girls went flying down the hall, exchanging friendly taunts. Tyler sighed, whipping a tear from his cheek. _

"_That never gets old, come on Dave, lets get Jack down here and get to his presents, I want some cake!" The two ran off laughing down the hall. The scene shifted briefly, forming with the whole of the Fenton, Foley, and Manson families gathered, including Pam and Jeremy, Dani, and great-grandma Ida. _

_The boy with snow white hair and violet eyes sat in the center of the floor, various gifts splayed out around him, including a piece of fudge cake with a large 14 candle sticking out of it._

"_Thanks everybody!" he said to his family and friends. He picked up a large beeping belt, and looked over to grandpa Jack, who's hair was now graying._

"_Thanks grandpa, I needed a new one of these, well one that wouldn't shock me at least". Even in his old age Jack's enthusiasm hadn't faded._

"_No problem Jackie-boy! It was my pleasure, and hey I got some fudge out of it!" Like his name sake, Jack Jr. had inherited his grandfathers taste for fudge, as well as his eccentric attitude. Both Maddie and Sam sighed at their respective Jack's behavior._

"_They never do grow up, not really", Maddie said smiling._

"_But Jack, you haven't tried my present yet!" Pamela squealed, holding up a suit and tie. Jack looked at it for a moment with disgust._

"_I'll try it on later grandma". Danny who sat next to his wife mouthed, 'that's my boy' to his eldest son. Then the most unexpected thing happened, Danny, Jack's, Lily's, David's and Sam's ghost senses all went off simultaneously. Then a familiar ghost phased through the floor and collapsed in a heap, Vlad._

_Well, he was almost familiar, his ghostly appearance had changed drastically in the two decades since any of them had last seen him. He still have off a green glow, but his skin was no longer blue, and his hair now fell down his shoulders as it did when he was in human form, and his fangs had disappeared. _

_In one instant all the Fenton's had charged an ecto blast or gun, the Foley's, except for Tucker had activated their suits, all their weapons focused on Vlad._

"_What are you doing here!?" Danny hissed, stepping forward to his old enemy, picking him up by the scruff of the neck, a green blast poised at his neck._

"_Please!" Vlad spoke in a panicked tone, his eyes full of terror, but not for the man with an energy ball to his face. "I bear a warning, please, you have to get out of here, before it's too late!" Danny threw him across the room, and he landed slumped against it._

"_What would you have to warn us about, Vlad? I had thought for sure that you'd dried up by now but I guess I was wrong". He was about blast him when a deep low chortle echoed though the house._

"_Ah Danny, you really should trust him, you know it is a sad fact that it is now that he decides to do a good deed, because now it seems that it's too late. For as I told you once long ago, I'm inevitable." Then out of the floor emerged a being that had haunted Danny's nightmares for years, clad in demonic armor, with glowing demonic eyes, was Dan._

_It happened in an instant, before anyone could react. Dan raised his hands, and from the tip of each finger, erupted a blast of dark energy. _

_Each one met a different person in the chest. There were shrieks and cries of pain and agony, as everyone of the Fenton's fell to the ground, all except for Danny, who had been hit with a nonlethal shot, having fallen to his knees. _

"_I thought I told you Danny, that I cannot be changed, cannot be destroyed, cannot go away no matter what you do. And now I have you on your knees before, me, wishing for nothing more than to die. And now I will grant that wish." He raised a hand, about to finish him, when a purple ray struck him in the chests._

_Vlad flew forward, using all that was left of his remaining power to lift Danny over his shoulder, and draw from his belt a silver tool. He slashed it though the air, and a portal fizzed into existence. He flung himself and Danny through it, destroying it on his way, but not quick enough to avoid being hit head on by one of Dan's blasts, a mortal wound._

_The two injured halfa's floated though nothingness for what seemed like eternity, before they landed on a floating rock._

"_Why did you do that?" he asked. Vlad lifted his aged eyes to look into those of who he had wanted as a son._

"_My exile made me realize what a fool I truly was, that my actions had pushed away the only friend I ever had. And when I found that he had escaped I had to act, I had to try to atone for my sins or I could never rest." He lifted a shaking hand, and pulled a small scroll from a pouch on his belt, and shoved it into Danny's hands._

"_Seek the sword of unity, it is the only weapon capable of ending him once and for all. I'm………I'm sorry Daniel, I……." And with that Vlad Masters died, and faded away. Danny sat there for a moment , tears forming in his eyes, from the sheer lost he had experienced in a mere minute. _

_He placed a weary hand on the dead man's chest, and ice encased him, forming an icy tomb, preserving it for all time. _

"_I forgive you……. V-man". _


	10. Chapter 10

**And once again, I'm back. Now before I start the next chapter, I want to clear a few things up. The thing with the devil will be explained eventually, as everything in the story will. And for you religious types, don't worry, Dan will not destroy God, and I don't think the big man will appear either. **

**And I'm happy to announce that I'm planning on writing a companion piece when this is over. It will be the story of the twenty or so years that Daniel lived before the tragic event depicted in the last chapter. And now on to chapter Ten, I'd like to thank everyone who's stuck with me all this time, and I hope you'll stick with this story to the end. **

**I'd also like to apologize for taking so long with this, I was sick for the last week and have been felling like complete crap and I didn't want to puke on my laptop, happy reading.**

It was a long and eerie silence that met the end of the memory. Daniel looked around the room and took in the horrified faces of his loved ones and younger self. He did not cry, could not, he would not cry, his tears had run dry. All he could do now was look ahead, and move forward, the path now made clear at long last.

"Don't you see now?" he said quietly to his small audience. "That this is what I was trying to avoid". He turned to Vlad, who had his mouth hanging ajar in shock, still sealed in his protective energy bubble. He looked from his parents, to Tucker to Sam, his eyes freezing on her for a moment before clearing his throat.

"It's a lot to take in, I know, but you had to see it, if we're to defeat Dan, no destroy Dan, you need to know everything." He paused looking down at the orb in his palm, which was still warm from use. "I know you've already had top see a lot today, but there is one last thing you need to see, how I got this". He said tapping the sword on his back.

For what he hoped would be the last time he wrapped his fingers around the orb, and before anyone could interrupt with their many questions, it hummed to life once again.

_The scene clears on the wasteland of the ghost zone. The sky in the background was pitch black, etched with green swirling vortexes and floating boulders. Daniel flies slowly, his energy low, lazily avoiding the floating debris. In the distance lies a large temple like structure, set on a massive mountain like rock, levitating in place. _

_It was circular in design, held up by white stone pillars, with a dome roof that was open topped, a column of solid light shining from within, acting like a beacon to those approaching. Daniel wearily landed on the mossy steps of the temple, falling to his knees in exhaustion. _

_His jumpsuit was torn, and splotches of blood covered his white hair and his cape was in shambles. He heard footsteps approaching and craned his neck painfully upward. A completely featureless being stood above him, gazing down with large pupil less eyes. He was humanoid, but he had no complexion, bearing a milky white skin color. _

_He was tall and slender, and appeared to wear no clothing, and all that there was of a mouth was a thin line etched across his head._

"_Ah, another hopeful for the sword? I have to admit I'm glad to see you, it's been near millennia since the last came, what a pity that one was". He gestured to what appeared to be a black burn mark on the top of the steps, all that remained of the last being who searched for the sword._

"_Now, state your name, and we will see if you are worthy". He said clearly and firmly._

"_D-danny Phantom….. but who are you?" Daniel croaked from the back of his throat, struggling with the words. The being chuckled humorlessly._

"_I am the guardian of the sword of unity, all who wish to wield it must talk to me. Now come, on your feet." He walked back through the stone archway that was the entrance to the temple, and Daniel limped after him._

_The temple was one gargantuan room, circular in shape. There was a large circular pyramid of stairs leading upward to an altar, and stuck in the stone atop it was a massive sword, shining brightly, illuminating everything in sight._

_Around the edges of the steps were runes of languages that only Clockwork himself was old enough to remember, and along the walls were statues of the great spirits of the world, such as Clockwork spirit of time, Undergrowth spirit of flora, and Pyra, spirit of fire._

_The guardian turned to him at the base of the steps, looking at him closely, giving Daniel the feeling as if he were being x-rayed. _

"_Very well…..Danny Phantom, ascend these stairs and make your attempt, if you are deemed worthy the blades power will be yours, will flow with you as if it were the same entity". Daniel nodded, and slowly began to climb, then something occurred to him and he turned._

"_What happens if it doesn't accept me?"_

"_You will be destroyed, fade to nothing in the most painful way imaginable, or to a half ghost like you, you'll die first."_

"_Great….." he said sarcastically, turning back to the chore at hand. It felt like hours, days before he reached the top, and when he did he took a moment to examine the weapon that was supposedly the key to his revenge, and the salvation of the world._

_The hilt seemed to be wrapped in a cloth of purest white, except for the butt, which was shaped like a diamond, spinning and shining green. The guard was long and dynamic, pointed on both ends, and the blade was massive, and gave of a strange aura, as if it were alive._

_Daniel took a deep breath, it was now or never, he placed his right hand on the hilt. His whole arm began to vibrate from the energy, and he began to shake where he stood. He moved his left hand to join his right, now holding the sword firmly, as it seemed to be fighting back, not wanting to be claimed. _

_Pain filled him and his muscles strained, every one of his cells forcing all of his energy outward. His wrenched his arms upward, as they began to feel like they were melting from his form. The sound that was emitted when the blade left its home was astronomical, louder than a nuclear bomb, ten nuclear bombs, and the a pure white light flashed nearly blinding its new master._

_When the sound cleared, and the light faded, a new noise came in its place. A low howling, a moaning filled the temple, and there were loud cracks as the temple was filled with ghostly figures. _

_Daniel looked around as every ghost and spirit he had ever encountered and all the others he hadn't appeared at once, they all crossed an arm over their chest in homage, and as one mass of ectoplasmic energy entered the sword at once._

_Daniel let out a roar, shaking the foundation of the building, as his form melted away. He felt the swords energy flow into his soul, and a new form grafted itself around him. His jumpsuit was gone, replaced by cybernetic armor that covered his whole body, the DP symbol appearing on his chest. His tattered cape disappeared and on his back appeared a large decorative scabbard._

_Finally his hair grew longer reaching his shoulders, and when the transformation ceased, he was a being that held the power of all ghosts……_

The orb shut off, and Daniel looked up at his audience.

"So…. I'll take questions now." Danny was the first to act.

"How did Dan get so strong? What was with the horn? What was-" Daniel held a hand up to silence him.

"That is a very complex answer, for you see his increased his power twice now….. the second time I wish I would have been able to foresee.

The first time he used the ecto residue on the inside of the Fenton thermos to bolster his DNA. BY doing so he was able to create energy at an incredible rate. HE could have escaped much earlier, but he waited nearly two decades. When he finally escaped, his power was nearly tem times what it was when we first faced him."

"But what about the horns?!" Danny nearly screamed at his older counterpart. "That doesn't explain that!"

"I'm getting their", Daniel said calmly, he turned to his family and friends. "Did I always have that much of an anger issue?"

"Yes", Sam, Tucker, Valerie and Jazz answered at once, Danny glared, Daniel just nodded, expecting the answer.

"Well, you see Dan has usurped the title of the devil." The look on everyone's faces was incomprehensible, neither shocked nor blank.

"The devil?" Sam asked, Daniel simply nodded.

"It's not the type of devil you'd usually think of, he isn't a deity, not a literal fallen angel who rebelled against god, devil is just a title. You seem, there are four type of ecto beings, each on their own level of power, and with their own unique characteristics.

First and most well known are ghosts, souls of the departed who couldn't move on to the afterlife, they are the most common and dwell in the alternate dimension closest to our own, the ghost zone.

Then there are spirits, which are essentially ghosts, but on a much higher plane, with power nearing that of a minor deity. They are the personification of an ideal or a concept. You've met a few, like Clockwork and Undergrowth.

Next are the demonic, beings of tainted ectoplasm, of darkness. They dwell in a dimension within the ghost zone itself, basically hell. The most powerful of them is the devil, who takes on the name Lucifer, and is crowned king of the infernal.

Lastly, there are the celestial, angels, being of pure good, who dwell in the heavens, the positive side of the afterlife. I have yet to meet a single one of them, or enter their realm."

Everyone stared at him at disbelief at his knowledge. There was a long silence before Sam asked the question both she and Danny had been dying to know the answer to.

"We…..get married?" she asked, trying to hide the blush from her face and the hope from her voice. Daniel smiled warmly at her.

"Yeah, best damn decision I ever made. You make one hell of a wife Sam, and a mom". He turned to his own parents, which was sort of awkward considering he was only a few years younger than his own parents.

"Jack Jr. is just like you dad, in name and personality, his first word was ghost!" Despite the dark situation Jack couldn't help but grin.

"How is his hair white in human form?" Maddie asked like the scientist she was, Daniel smiled.

"Because he was conceived when we were both in ghost form. David's hair id part white because I was in ghost form, and Lily's hair is normal because we were both in human forms, it basic genetics when you think about it." There was another long silence, then Valerie spoke.

"So, I marry Tucker?" she asked.

"Yeah, hell, in my timeline you start dating a week from today, and get married a month after me and Sam. Then again it is an old wives tale that the best man and maid of honor would end up married themselves, so it's only natural." Both techno geek and huntress blushed brightly, yet still they both smiled.

"So", Vlad said, speaking for the first time, getting looks for the first time that weren't filled with murder and bloodlust. "What do we do now?" Daniel waved a hand, releasing Vlad from his prison, letting him land on his feet and join the group, standing next to Jack and Maddie, who welcomed him openly. They'd talk later, now they had to plan.

"Simple, we plan, we train, and we fight, and then we win". 


	11. Chapter 11

**Well, here it is the next chapter in the epic struggle between good and evil! How freaking cliché is that? Well I hope you enjoy this, so here we go!**

"Not to be a buzz kill or anything," Vlad began, raising a hand to interrupt Daniel. "But I doubt that it's that simple, or simple at all for that matter. It's a safe bet that anything that evolved beings of a higher plane would be extensively complicated, and I'd say we have a war on our hands."

Daniel laughed lightly, knowing his former opponent would respond in this way.

"Well of course it wont be simple, has anything in my life been simple?" He turned to his younger self, whose arm was wrapped around a still shaken Sam, and Tucker and Valerie, who were holding hands, still blushing furiously at the knowledge they would one day marry.

"We do what we always do, don't we? We fight, we figure this out together, we do that, we'll win in the end."

"Yeah!" Jack bellowed, getting pumped up, charging an ecto-rifle he had pulled from seemingly nowhere. "Let's do this!" Everyone rolled their eyes, and Daniel snickered.

"Well Dad, yes, we do have to get to work, but I'm afraid I cannot allow you or Mom to put yourselves in danger". They looked shocked, and horrified as Daniel took a deep breath, and expelled from his mouth that surrounded both the Fenton and Manson parents.

Slowly their eyelids began to flutter, and they seemed to float to the ground, curled up beside their respective spouses. The mist expanded, and flooded out of the chamber. A few moments later there were thousands of small thuds that echoed from the main cavern. Everyone blinked, not really knowing what had just happened. Danny turned to his future self.

"What did you just do?"

"I put them to sleep," he answered simply. "You saw what happened when I attained the sword, all ghosts answered its call, and literally became one with its blade. Therefore I have access to all of their powers, so I simply tapped into Nocturn's power, and induced pleasant dreams upon their minds."

"You-you have _that_ much power?" Danny asked in awe, eyes as wide as saucers. "How is it even possible for you to be beaten then?" Daniel hung his head for a moment.

"Power isn't as simple a thing as one would think," Daniel said. "It's both a blessing and a curse, and while I possess many of the unique gifts of our foes, it is there energy, the spiritual power I mostly tap into during combat, not their specialty."

"While have gained numerous abilities and unimaginable strength, Dan was stronger than us to begin with, then got even stronger, so increasing my own power was only enough to match him. Now he holds the strength of the infernal, and holds power that is near that of a god".

He paused, looking around, noticing that Sam seemed a little more comfortable now that her parents were an unconscious heap on the ground, who would be? But she still appeared distraught over how she would/had hurt Danny.

"But I do have another ability that will be of particular use to us, well a few of us". He turned to Sam, looking like he was trying to decide something very conflicting. "I can awaken what's already there". Sam looked at him, very confused.

"What do you mean?" she asked, and Daniel sighed.

"Although you have no powers now, not all of the ectoplasm left your body after you were taken over the first time, there're still traces of it there, and I can bring it out."

"You-you can give me powers?" Sam asked shakily, trying to hide both anxiety and excitement from her voice. Daniel nodded.

"Do you want me to?" Sam thought for a moment, turning her chin onto Danny's shoulder, who just smiled at her, letting her know she could do whatever she wished, she nodded.

"Yeah", she said, returning to her regular confident, independent, and sometimes bossy (don't tell her I said that) self. "I don't mind being able to watch Danny's back", she smirked. "Someone has to keep him out of trouble."

Daniel smiled, she never did change, not in twenty years, and he loved her for it. He stepped forward, placing his index finger lightly on Sam's forehead, just above her brow. He closed his eyes, placing his other hand on the sheath of his sword. His eyelids flew open, shining brightly, as did the blade of the sword.

Suddenly vines and plants of every imaginable kind erupted from the guard of the sword, twisting their way down Daniel's arm. As they made contact with Sam's forehead she was evoked in green light. She rose several feet off the ground, like some sort of star, and a few moments later, she sank back to the ground and the light faded.

Everyone gasped at what they saw. Sam appeared just as she had when she was Undergrowth's servant, the same green dress and mini skirt, the same elbow length gloves and green boots, and the same markings below her eyes. The only difference was that only her irises glowed a light shade of green, as supposed to her whole eyes. She stood there in shock, looking herself over, a little appaled at how revealing the skirt was.

Daniel smirked at his young counterparts bulging eyes, knowing exactly what he was thinking, as he himself had thought it before. That Sam was wearing the sexiest thing he'd ever seen her in.

"Me next! Me next!" Dani squealed, eager to attain her fire powers, Daniel chuckled.

"Sorry Dani, but you're powers are naturally occurring. If I were to give you the essence of a fire ghost, when your powers awaken you could incinerate yourself. You have to wait".

"Aw, come on!" Dani pouted loudly.

"Essence?" Sam asked.

"Yes, the sword contains the essence and power of all ghosts. I gave you Undergrowths. I have little use for it. Now." He said turning to look at Vlad. "We have plans to make". Everyone nodded in agreement. "First", he said "I want Tucker, Valerie and Jazz to stay here to monitor and guard the base. I have nothing against your abilities, but you'll be more useful here". The huntress nodded reluctantly.

"The rest of us go to the ghost zone we have an army to build".

"Ok," Danny agreed. "But one question, what do we call you? It'll be confusing since there's two of us".

"Call me Daniel", he said simply, turning to the porto-portal's control panel.

"Wait a moment", Vlad said raising a hand. "I also have a question. Why was my appearance so different in the memory you showed us earlier? I appeared to be using my powers in human form. My hair was still black

"Because", Daniel answered, without turning around, fiddling with various colored buttons. "You morality has changed. Your view on good and evil has reverted to a normal state and your form changes with it. Look at yourself, your fangs are already gone and your eyes are no longer red."

Everyone turned on their heels to look at Vlad, and nearly gasped at what they had failed to notice before. His vampire-like fangs had receded into normal canines, and his eyes glowed a normal ghostly green. His skin was less pale, and he looked much friendlier to the eye.

"My god…" he muttered at his own appearance, Daniel smiled, knowing that his young companions were slowly starting to trust the crazy fruitloop they knew as Vlad Masters.

**LINEBREAK**

Dan sat upon his throne, twiddling his thumbs lazily as he gazed into a large mirror which seemed to be made of crystallized blood. The throne room of hells palace was completely empty save for its king, who busied himself watching his enemies put their own plans into action. Although he could see bits and pieces, the connection was fading as Vlad's heart became less and less dark, reducing the devils connection to him.

For you see the new king of hell was different by far than all the others. H, unlike every past king of the infernal, was never himself a human soul that was sent to hell and had contested the throne, taking it for his own. He was ectoplasm, pure ectoplasm, that had clung to the soul of Danny Fenton, forming his ghostly persona that by itself was the exact opposite of the human Danny.

This freed him of all morals, he did not feel, he only thought. All he had that linked him to a living soul were memories that were not even his to begin with. But this would make one think, if he could not feel, why do anything? Why commit these terrible crimes without emotions to comprehend them? The answer was simple, yet very complex, lust. It was not a sexual lust, but a lust for power, for control, he craved the feeling of having power over weaker beings, craved instilling fear in their pathetic hearts. And he didn't mean to brag, but he was pretty damn good at it.

"Hm…." he said lazily as he watched Danny, Dani, Daniel, Vlad and Sam enter the ghost zone, the picture now fading to the point where he could barely make out their forms let alone their faces. "It would be rude to leave them with nothing to do, why don't I give them something to do?"

He raised his hand, and it glowed with a crimson aura. In front of him materialized an elephant sized three-headed dog, or Cerberus as mythology would call him. There were many of his kind in the underworld, very fun to set on residents of hell and watch as they were ripped apart, unable to die again.

"Go, my pet, and eat your fill", Dan said with an evil grin that suited him ever so well. He waved his hand, and the dog disappeared, going to make a little surprise visit to a few friends….

**LINEBREAK**

The five halfa's floated through the ghost zone, all following Daniel, who led the way, closely followed by Vlad and Dani. Danny and Sam took up the rear, moving slowly as Sam was still trying to get the hang of flying, with Danny's arm wrapped around her shoulder.

"It's all pretty crazy, isn't it?" he whispered to her as they flew. "Can you believe it?"he asked, trying and failing to hide the blush from his face.

"Parts of it," she whispered back, a smile forming on her lips. "The future sounds pretty good, well most of it. Three kids? How do we survive?" She joked with a grin, both of them laughing. "Although I cant say I dislike the sound of 'Sam Fenton'".

"I think the real question is how the rest of us survive you two being so fluffy all the time", Danielle said with a clearly disgusted face. "Get a room would ya?"

"That's a very hard thing to do out here", Vlad said, turning to his creation with a smile. "Although considering how many wagers were made about these two I wouldn't be surprised if people simply cleared out for them".

"True", Dani agreed. "You know I still don't completely trust you, right?" she asked, her eyes narrowed. Vlad sighed and nodded.

"Your allowing me to remain alive far better than I deserve, I simply hope that I can live up to what I saw in the memory."

"You will", Daniel said without looking back. "I can feel it, you were never destined to be a villain in the end. No, you'll have a great role to play in the end." They landed for a short rest on one of the many randomly floating boulders that filled the wasteland. It looked a little like the moon, except that everything had a green aura.

Daniel sensed it coming, felt the energy transpire onto the platform where they stood, and leapt to his feet.

"We got company!" Everyone appeared confused until they saw thousands upon thousands of tiny black squares fly from the nothingness, and take the form of Cerberus. They all took off in different directions, trying to confuse the dog, but to no avail. Although he was very large, Cerberus was not stupid. He threw all of his heads back, and let from them spew giant masses of flames.

Danny and Daniel formed a large icy wall between them, pouring all of their energy into constantly reforming the rapidly melting ice.

"Dani!" Daniel called. "Distract it! Sam, tie it down, use your vines! Vlad, you can figure the rest out!" The all took off, Dani flying high above the walls and flames.

"Hey ugly! I'm up here!" she sent an ecto blast into the top of his head, which only seemed to anger it, but it kept right on breathing fire. Sam shakily raised her hands, trying her best to conjure the proper plant. Vines of incredible length erupted from her wrists and slowly wrapped around the beasts body.

"Yes!" Sam exclaimed, happy with her work. Vlad did indeed know how to finish it, he formed energy around his fists, and came crashing down from above like a dive bomber. There was a loud sickening crack as the monster shrieked in pain, and slowly dissolved back into dust.


	12. Chapter 12

**Well, I'm back, I hope to get some big plot development into this chapter, well, here we go... Well first I'd like to thank my reviewers who have allowed me to waste their time for this long, this is my longest running story yet and it is easily the most popular. I hope that you'll allow me to waste more of your time in the future, now lets go!**

Clockwork stood quietly in his chamber, placidly twiddling the long staff of time in his fingers as he gazed into the massive crystal ball like orb that stood in the center of the room. One would think that he'd find the events that had so recently unfolded shocking, horrifying, gut wrenching, and just plain awful, but, no.

As he often stated to Danny, Daniel, or any other person who instinctively questioned his wisdom, he knew everything, and that meant EVERYTHING. Time was his element, his habitat, and sadly enough his hobby. Anything that had ever happened, was happening, would or even just could happen Clockwork knew, he was the master of time, and he did his job well.

But he was more than a being of omnipotent power and ability, he was a living (not really) breathing (kinda…) paradox. You see, he knew all that was, is, and will be, but where does his own birth come into play? What happens when he does not step in at the proper moments in time as he foresaw that he would? If he knew that it would be, how could he not act?

The answer was simple yet incomprehensible, time would unravel. This however, did not worry him, he was a being of action, who knew his place and when he was needed, after all he was an all knowing entity.

It actually annoyed him at times, that there were no surprises and everything was expected. The only real exciting events in recent millennia were his associations with Danny, nothing was ever boring with him around.

Danny's coming was something he had looked forward to for eons, because he knew of the true destiny that he held. Hell, you had to have something of a destiny going for you if there were multiple alternate timelines created simply for your own existence to play out as fate saw fit.

Now Danny's evil persona had escaped, gained incredible power beyond reckoning, and usurped the throne of Lucifer himself. It didn't make matters any better that the most recent devil had held his throne for nearly ten thousand years, the longest of any infernal king. He knew this would happen, the date and the time down to the exact second, he knew that everything had to fall into place perfectly, but there were some who didn't understand that.

As if on cue the entrance to the tower exploded in a flurry of wood splinters and ecto blasts. At least two dozen forms leapt into the chamber, moving in elegant formation. They were dressed like ninjas, in star white clothing that covered their entire bodies including their eyes. On the chests of their uniform was embroidered a green eye, the symbol of the obeservants, and these were their Special Forces operatives.

They formed a fast moving circle around Clockwork, who just yawned, bored out of his mind. Each held his hand above on the hilt of a green katana, ready to strike. As a single entity they each drew their weapon, all pointed directly at the master of times neck.

"I assume you know why we're here Clockwork", a deep voice spoke into the silence. Clockwork lazily turned his head, avoiding the blades poised at his throat. Two being entered the room, each wearing an elaborate cloak with a decorative collar and their head were nothing more than massive, unblinking eyes. These were the observants, the highest members of government in the ghost zone, and they were very, very angry.

"Ah, my big eyed friends, how nice of you to visit. Can I offer you any refreshment?" he asked innocently, changing to his infant form.

"You know precisely why we are here, Clockwork", the head observant hissed in a low ominous voice dripping with disgust and hatred.

"You have purposefully neglected your responsibility and have let the one called Dan to escape", the other observant declared angrily, pointing to the remnants of the thermos on the table against the opposite wall.

"And what is more", the head observant continued. "You have allowed him to defeat Lucifer, and for three copies of the same being to meet, when you knew all of this would happen! It is your duty to prevent the darkest events of the future and you have failed, if not only to defy us!" he roared. It was surprising to both observants and all of their agents that the aged ghost simply chuckled.

"Yes, I knew all of it would happen, and yes, I let it. But am I really to blame? You also access to future events, but never once have you acted upon your own accord. You have always come to me." He turned to addressed the special agents with a smirk as he became a middle aged adult. "What do they have you do anyway? They have their own special agents and the only thing they've had them done in a century is arrest me" He snickered. "If you think arresting me will reverse anything then you are greater fools than I thought. I will not resist, as I know that no matter what I say I cannot make you see the truth".

"Very well, but first, your staff, surrender it to us" the head observant demanded. Clockwork gazed at his eternal tool as if saying goodbye to an old friend, and tossed it across the room, to where the lesser observant caught it. The two massive eyed observants approached the crystal ball as Clockwork was led away, the head crossing his arms, staring into its contents.

'Sir?" his subordinate asked after a long while. "What if he's right? I mean, he proved us wrong the first time. Phantom changed the timeline. But what if this was supposed to happen?" The head twitched his face to his lesser counterpart.

"We have sworn to watch and preserve time, and it seems that Clockwork has slacked on his duties, and in the process has allowed the devil himself to walk the earth. Yet you dare to question the wisdom of the council?" he turned away in disgust, gazing into the orb where Daniel, Danny, Dani, Sam, and Vlad sat recovering on a floating rock.

LINEBREAK!

Clockwork was led down a dark corridor inside the fortress of the observants. Clockwork simply followed his captors, not attempting to fight back even though he could easily destroy them all, even without his staff. The fortress looked like a stereotypical medieval prison, except that the torches glowed with a green fire, giving a surprisingly eerie tone to its halls.

The master of time allowed himself to be roughly shoved into a cramped cell with a tiny bed in the corner. He sighed as he sprawled out on it.

"I needed a vacation", he said to himself, resting his head on in his arms behind his head, closing his eyes. This was exactly the kind of break he needed, time to sleep, which he rarely ever had, while the fate of the world and all its conjoining dimensions were in the hands of someone else.

"Good luck Danny, Daniel", he whispered to the silent walls. "I know what challenge awaits you and you'll need all the luck you can get if you are to succeed…"

LINEBREAK!

The last couple of hours had been hectic, not that Danny wasn't used to that. But this was becoming too much. Not that all of it was bad of course, since apparently the future held many wonderful things, marriage to the girl he loved, a beautiful family, and a great life. But of course it would come at a great and terrible price courtesy of his darkest enemy.

And now his future counterpart was leading him, his girlfriend/future wife, his clone, and his apparently redeemed arch enemy, not that he completely trusted him though, into only God knows what. Since nothing in his life could be normal, of course they were attacked by something big ugly and scary on the first ten minutes, and he just had to ask…..

"What the hell was that!" he bellowed. The quintet was still on the rock on which they were recently attacked. Sam sat beside him on an icy bench, Dani sat cross legged on the ground before them, Vlad sat across from them patching a wound from the fight, while Daniel sat Indian style in midair, apparently in a meditative position. Daniel sighed, looking up from his reflection.

"I suppose I never did pay attention in literature class, or when I fought in Pandora's realm. That was a Cerberus, a copy of the original three headed dog that guards the underworld. However this one is different. Different as it was composed completely of negative energy". He scowled. "It seems Dan is watching us. Although he shouldn't be able to see us anymore for long".

"Why is that?" Sam asked curiously."Because", Daniel answered. "He can only see the wicked, as that is his domain." He gazed over at Vlad. "And since Vlad's heart is returning to the light, Dan's ability to see through his eyes is fading." Everyone nodded in understanding.

"So," Dani began. "What do we do now?"

"Originally ", Daniel said. "I planned on going to either the far frozen or Dora's realm, but now they must be assembling their armies, and will not open up to anyone. But, I have an alternative. There is some special training that I must give you Danny, but at the same time there is information to be gathered." He turned to Vlad. "I'll entrust this to you, as it's something of your expertise". Vlad nodded.

"I know just the place, but what is it you require information on?"

"The celestials". Daniel said. Vlad simply gaped at him open mouthed, before reverting to his usual smirking demeanor.

"Very well, I am always up for a challenge."Daniel smiled.

"Glad to hear it". He turned to the girls. "I want you two to go with him. The teaching I need to pass on are potentially dangerous, and I wont put either of you at risk." Both female halfa's opened their mouths to protest, but Sam spoke first.

"No, I'm staying" she said firmly.

"But Sam it's-" Danny tried to cut in, but she gave him the 'Sam' look that always made his heart and brain to mush, rendering his judgment utterly useless. He looked over to Daniel for support, but he held his hands up in defeat.

"Don't look at me, she's been doing that to me for twenty years and not once have I been able to resist". Sam nodded in 'damn right' sort of way.

"Why cant you just teach me? I need to learn to control myself anyway". Daniel rubbed his chin, deep in thought. At first he hesitated, but eventually he gave his answer.

"All right" he said. "This technique is unique to the person, and you've told me how you did it in the future, so I may be able to help". He turned to Dani. "However, I know nothing of how you achieved it, you did, but you always said it was too embarrassing to talk about. Nonetheless I need you to go with Vlad, he'll need someone to cover him while he's researching. "

Dani visibly huffed, but nodded.

"Oh well, I need some target practice anyway", she said, smirking over at Vlad, who either didn't hear her or chose not to react. The pair flew off into the black distance, leaving Daniel, Danny and Sam alone.

"So," Danny said. "What is it that's so dangerous to teach us you want to get everyone out of the way?" Daniel sighed, and took a seat, gesturing for the other two to do the same.

"Well Danny, I'm going to teach you to master your ghostly obsession."

**Ok, there's a chapter done. Next chapter you'll learn more about the background of the infernal and the celestial, as well as the ghostly obsession training for Danny and Sam, guess what Sam's is, and how it will affect her and Danny's power….. well see ya soon!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Ok, I'm sorry if this is a little late, but it's finals week (Bangs head on wall). Praise the lord! School's over! Now, instead of long introduction, let's get right to it.**

It wasn't surprising to find that the ghost library was completely empty, well, apart from the ghost writer who sat behind the clerk's desk, surrounded by a massive pile of books. Over the years Vlad had spent a lot of time here, most recently researching the location of the skeleton key, which would lead him to the resting place of Pariah Dark.

The library itself appeared very similar to those in the physical world, but on a dramatically increased scale, and with books on topics that most humans considered to be only myth and legend. The redeemed villain led Danielle along long rows of bookcases easily several miles long, each containing tomes millennia's old, in languages long forgotten.

This annoyed Danielle, seeing as the situation wasn't that favorable for her. One, she was in a library, and like her genetic counterpart, didn't have much patience for the places. Two and most importantly, she was in a library with _Vlad_. Although she saw that in the future he changed, and was now trying to make amends for his actions, she couldn't help but feel lingering hatred towards her creator.

"Ugh", she groaned aloud. "Aren't we there yet?" Vlad cast her a look over his shoulder, but didn't break his pace.

"The celestials are the single most ancient race in existence, their history spans back eons and eons. As such, any information on them will be at the very back of the library. I'm surprised Danielle, I would have thought Jazz would drag you to a dozen libraries by now." Dani scowled.

"She did, but none of them are longer than Amnity park itself."

"Actually" Vlad said. "It's longer than Manhattan, I've never actually seen the end of it. All of the books I've found here are usually within a two mile radius of the entrance. But in this case, what we're looking for will be at the very back." Dani groaned loudly again, and Vlad simply chuckled.

"What's so important about these guys anyway? I mean really, what do they have that's so important for us to beat Dan?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Vlad asked. "Dan is the king of the infernal, the master of demons and everything that dwells in the underworld. The celestials are the exact opposite. In popular culture they would be called angels, and in fact they are being of pure light, and dwell within the positive side of the afterlife, or heaven."

Dani blinked, that sure was a mouthful. She continued to ponder this information as she followed Vlad further into the labyrinth that was the library. It was many hours more of floating along that followed, for several of which Dani slept, Vlad pulling her behind him. (in midair) She was awakened suddenly when she dropped to the hard cold, stone ground.

"Hey!" she yelled. "What gives?!" She craned her neck upward, to see Vlad staring up, his mouth open in shock and disbelief. She was about to ask what he was looking at when, she saw it, and her jaw dropped to the floor.

In front of them was a massive archway, easily half a mile tall. It seemed to be made of pure gold, with countless symbols engraved around the edges. The arch marked the entrance to a chamber which seemed to give of it's own white light.

And in the center of the chamber, they could see several bookcases, containing large tomes with silver bindings, while disembodied voices echoed off the walls, giving the room an eerily mystical feeling about

"I think we found it", Vlad mused aloud.

"My what?" Danny asked, having no idea what Daniel meant.

"Your ghostly obsession" Daniel said, Danny and Sam blinked and Daniel sighed.

"Have you ever noticed that nearly every ghost you've fought has had a theme? Ghosts are extremely obsessive by nature. For example, Skulker has hunting, Ember music, the box ghost boxes, they all have something that defines their personality and behavior. Halfas are similar, yet different at the same time. We have ghostly obsessions, but they manifest themselves differently, depending on the will power of the person.

Instead of something that makes up their personality, or defines their behavior, a halfas obsession is what means the most to them, what they can't live without." There was a long pause as Danny and Sam thought this over.

"What's Vlad's?" Danny asked. Daniel sighed once again.

"Vlad is a unique case, he's different from you or me. You see, when he first received his powers, he was so consumed by hatred and envy, his obsession never solidified as a single thing. It was always torn between his lust for power, and for our mother." Both Danny and Daniel shudder at the thought.

"But what's mine? How do I draw power from it?" he glanced at Sam, who just shrugged her shoulders, just as confused as he was. Daniel chuckled.

"Well, I do know, but you just have to look inside yourself to find out exactly what it is". Danny opened his mouth to ask what the hell that was supposed to mean, but Daniel had already placed a fingertip on his forehead. He felt the world drift away, and in a moment, he was dead asleep.

"What the hell did you do!?" Sam demanded, leaping to her feat, rounding on Daniel. AS her anger rose vines erupted from the ground around her, along with half a dozen Venus fly traps, which hissed at Daniel. Daniel backed away, he knew how terrifying his future wife could be, plants can be very scary if they're used in the right way.

"H-he's okay!" he stammered, holding up his hands in his defense. "I just sent him to his inner world".

Sam calmed down a little, as she noticed he was still breathing, and seemed perfectly normal, well, besides the snoring.

"His what?" she asked, as all her plant armada descended to the ground. "I really need to learn to control that", she muttered to herself.

"His inner world", Daniel repeated slowly. "It's a mental manifestation of his thoughts and memories, since I'm literally the same person I can use my own energy to ease him into it." Sam looked confused, but urged him onward with a quick hand gesture.

"It's how he'll master his power; he literally has to find it within himself. Sam's eyes slowly ceased being feral slits, and she sat down beside her boyfriend, caressing his white hair.

"What is it?" she asked, looking up at Daniel. "What's his obsession? It's the same for you right? You must know". The aged halfa couldn't help but smiling warmly down at her, and answering with a single word.

"You".

**LINEBREAK**

Danny felt like he had been bludgeoned over the head with something large and heavy. His whole world was spinning, and he had the strange sensation that he was falling, falling downward into an abyss of pure nothingness. His eyes were snapped shut, and no matter how hard he tried he couldn't force them open.

He yelped as his back met solid ground, although the ground wasn't hard, in fact it was soft. He tried once again to open his eyes, and this time, he managed wrenched them open. Danny gasped, his mouth fully open at what he saw.

He seemed to be in the middle of a grassy valley, surrounded by hills. Around him were scattered buildings and places he recognized, Fenton works, Casper high, the Nasty Burger, and other places that existed within Amnity park. He stood up and looked around in awe, the sun was shining, with no clouds in sight, his favorite kind of weather, and the whole atmosphere.

Suddenly out of nowhere seven figures landed around him in a circle, seemingly out of nowhere. This startled Danny so much he nearly fell over. He looked around, wondering whether these strange beings could tell him where he was, but when he examined them more closely he nearly jumped out of his skin.

All seven appeared to be exact clones of Danny; six appeared to be in his human form, with black hair and blue eyes, while one was in his ghostly persona. One wore he usual attire, a white shirt with a red circle in the middle, and blue jeans. Next seemed to be in a particular bad mood, his hair was droopy, he bore a frown, and appeared very unhappy. The third wore preppy versions of his regular clothing, a collared shirt and kaki pants, along with a pair of square glasses, with a book under his arm.

The fourth was dressed just like the first, except he looked very stressed, and appeared very timid, jumping at the slightest movement of anyone around him. The fifth dressed in a white tank top, his eyes glowed red and he continuously pounded his fist into his hand. Number six wore all black, with a t-shirt bearing a skull design, obviously he was a goth, but for some reason he was smiling.

The final clone Danny recognized, he was the phantom that was formed when he had attempted to duplicate himself, resulting in two separate personalities. He even had a bed sheet tied around his neck, and was pulling of a heroic pose.

"W-who are you?" Danny stammered, shuffling his feet nervously, raising his hands in case of a fight. They all either smiled or smirked, and the one with the book stepped forward, adjusting his glasses.

"We're your emotions, and this" he said spreading his arms wide, indicating the familiar expanse of land around them. "Is your inner world".

"M-my what?" Danny stammered.

"Your inner world", his bookworm clone repeated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "It's both a literal and metaphorical manifestation of all your thoughts, memories, and emotions, us." He turned and gestured to his six companions, pointing to them in order. "This is happiness, sadness, fear, anger, the guy in the cape is bravery. I am wisdom".

Danny nodded hesitantly, not knowing what to make of this. He turned to the goth.

"Who are you, angst?" The goth simply smiled and shook his head.

"No, I'm love". Danny did a double take, looking around at the rest of his emotions.

"My love is a goth? Am I the only one who that freaks out?"

"Of course not citizen!" bravery shouted with an overdramatic pose. "It-" but his next sentence was muffled by anger punching him squarely in the jaw, sending him flying into a nearby tree.

"That bastard never shuts up", he sneered, dusting off his hands. Fear, cowered behind sadness and happiness, obviously not very taken with his counterpart.

"Ok…" Danny began. "Why exactly am I here? Why did Daniel send me here?"

"Well isn't that obvious?" Wisdom asked. "You're here to harness your ghostly obsession."

"O-ok" Danny said, rubbing the back of his neck. "What is it?"

"That," Wisdom replied with a smirk. "Is something you'll have to discover on your own, well, you'll have our help, we are technically part of you."

"I'll handle this guys," Love said stepping forward smugly, turning to Danny. "Follow me", and with that he leapt into the air, and flew away at great speed.

"M-me?" Sam stammered with the utmost shock. "I'm his ghostly obsession?" Daniel nodded with a smile.

"I'm actually surprised neither of you figured it out, it is kind of obvious." Sam ruffled Danny's hair some more, his head now resting in her lap, seemingly deep in thought.

"He's mine, isn't he?" she asked. Daniel nodded.

"Well, that's what you've told me, I cant force you into your inner world, you'll probably have to meditate to get in. But we might be able to force you in faster if Danny and I try together." Sam nodded slowly, she didn't wanted to wait for Danny to wake up before she tried evoking massive amounts of supernatural powers herself.

"So, what's it like?"

"What?" he asked confused.

"What's it like being married….to me I mean." Daniel smiled from ear to ear at the question.

"Amazing, really. The kids are great, she might not look it, but Lily's just like you."

"How's that?" she asked curiously.

"Well, she's smarter than me. For example: once you thought she loved me more because she was spending more time with me, but what she said was, and I quote: 'No mommy, I love you both the same, Daddy's just easier to manipulate".

Sam snorted with uncontrollable laughter, Danny's head nearly falling out of her lap. She wiped a tear from her eye.

"Yeah, that does sound like my kid." Daniel smiled, peering down at his young counterpart.

"He sure is taking awhile, guess I'd better set up a few defenses, don't want anyone sneaking up on us while we're on this rock. He raised his hands, and a massive dome of ice formed around the floating rock, making it look like nothing more than a floating iceberg(lol), after all, they were going to be there for awhile, why not overcompensate on defense?

**OK, I'm done, sorry if not much plot development, but next chapter a lot will happen. If you've ever watched Teen titans, you'll know that I based the inner world concept on the episode "Nevermore", in which we are shown Ravens emotions manifest themselves as separate beings. Well, see you soon!**


	14. Chapter 14

**I'm bored….. no introductions, lets just get this next chapter over with, and see more of Danny's inner world…..**

**LINEBREAK**

Danny hesitantly followed his surprisingly dark themed love avatar. The sun shone brightly in his inner world, as if it were eternally summer, which was appropriate as it was his favorite season. It was a relatively short period of time before both he and Love landed atop a familiar hill that looked out on the town below, which had already, and as Daniel had shown him, would hold so many memories.

Love turned to him, smiling as warm as it was possible for a goth to smile.

"I assume you know why I brought you here? Because if you don't, then wisdom clearly isn't doing his job." Danny nodded, his cheeks turning a slight pink.

"Yeah, but what does that have to do with my ghostly obsession?" Love slapped his palm to his forehead, shaking it in annoyance.

"Dear god you're dense, no wonder Wisdom complains you don't use him enough. This has _everything _ to do with your obsession. Maybe you'll figure it out once I remind you of a few things." Love reached forward, placing a finger lightly on the bridge of Danny's nose, and thousands upon thousands of images flashed through his mind….

**LINEBREAK**

"So what are we doing in the future? Career-wise I mean", Sam asked Daniel, still affectionately ruffling Danny's hair.

"Well," Daniel began. "For the most part I'm a full time hero, though I do some work for NASA, since it's real easy for me to get into orbit. You, well as soon as you got your powers you brought me to the Amazon, you started re-growing the rain forest." Sam's face visibly brightened.

"I never thought of that!" Daniel laughed.

"Yeah, that was a fun trip, I got to see Delilah again." Sam furrowed her brow in confusion.

"Delilah?"

"The purple-back gorilla, had to study her for extra credit, first time I fought Skulker, remember?"

"She was released into the wild?" Sam asked excitedly, always concerned for an animals welfare, Daniel nodded.

"Yep, she even had a few babies, she's rebuilding her species." They both smiled at the prospect of a happy future, and happy memories. Then a new thought drifted into Sam's thoughts.

"What exactly did you send Vlad and Dani after?" she asked in a low serious tone. "You said something about celestials. What exactly do we need from them?" The time traveler's smile faded. He had been hoping that she would continue to question him about their life together, and avoid the upcoming battle.

"Because I…. well, as I've said before, celestials are the universes incarnation of light and good. They're the opposite of demons, and have special powers that directly effect demons and anything of infernal origin."

"So you want to get them to fight with us?" Sam asked, Daniel quickly shook his head.

"No, I can't ask that of them, no one can. Even if that was what I intended to do, I don't even know if I would be able to contact them in the first place."

"Why's that?" Sam asked.

"You see, celestials dwell in the heavens, the positive afterlife, and no living being can enter. I can't get inside in the first place. It doesn't help that they never come out unless they see it as necessary, and they're a bunch of cryptic old bastards who talk in metaphors so that's not gonna happen either." This made Sam even more confused.

"But if you don't want them to fight, then what do you want from them?" she asked persistently.

"I don't want anything directly from them, I just want information, I'm hoping that somewhere in their history it will tell me how to strip the devil of his power, tell me how to kill him……."

**LINEBREAK**

Vlad sat in a large padded armchair, at a cubicle in the center of the chamber of celestial knowledge. In front of him lay massive stacks of books, written in the ancient tongue of the celestials. To the side of his pile lay a small bound leather journal, which he now used to translate the tomes into a decipherable dialect.

His concentration was suddenly interrupted as Dani tumbled from her chair, snoring loudly, with a thin line of drool leaking from her mouth. Vlad sighed, he could only blame himself for this. After all, he had wanted a clone of Danny, and that's what he got. It was just a pity that Danielle had Danny's attention span (or lack of).

She yelped as Vlad's tiny ecto-blast hit her on the shin.

"Hey! What was that for?!" she yelled as she sat up, looking very irritated.

"Now is not the time for sleep, Danielle" Vlad said looking up from his work briefly. "Please, get to work". Dani grumbled indignantly as she crawled back into her chair, where her own pile of books awaited her. Reading was not her thing. She may have the Fenton genius gene, but like her genetic copy, she very rarely used it. She reached for the smallest book in the pile, which was the size of a phone book (lol).

"Well this is pointless", she said as she flipped through the books pages. "There's nothing written in here."

"What?" Vlad asked curiously, rising from his chair and floating over to Dani's side. "Let me see that". He took the book from the clone and quickly flipped through all it's pages, seeing that it was indeed blank from cover to cover.

"See?" Dani said cheekily, earning an icy glare from the elder hybrid.

"There must be something to this", Vlad muttered to himself as he carried the tome back to his own work station. He closed the book, and found that it didn't have a title either, all it had was elaborate bordering around the edges. He pulled from his belt a tiny magnifying glass, and began to examine every inch of the outside of the book, looking for any hidden message or key.

He rubbed his temple in frustration, as he had found nothing on either side of the book, nor the binding. Then the tiniest of things caught his eye, a symbol at the bottom of the book, intricately scribed into the bordering, and followed it was a short line of ancient symbols and signs.

He pulled a loose piece of parchment towards him, and on the right margin he carefully copied each of the symbols. He did this so that it would be easier for him to translate it into English. It took several minutes, but eventually he had transcribed the single line, which read.

_Tome of prophetic blood……._

"Tome of what?" Dani asked, currently reading over Vlad's shoulder.

"Of prophetic blood….." Vlad replied, although this didn't make much sense to him either. He thought about it for a moment. Celestials were known for their cryptic nature, always speaking in double meanings and metaphors, as to test the mind and heart of those they encountered. But what they were also known for was foresight.

Prophetic blood……..

Then it came to him in an instantaneous rush of thought. Blood. He withdrew a short knife from his boot and in a flash brought it up to his finger tips.

"What are you doing?" Dani asked, looking completely bewildered by his gesture. "I know it's frustrating but is that really a reason to start cutting yourself?"

But Vlad ignored her, and opened the book to its first blank page. He took the tip of the knife, and carefully pricked the end of his left index finger. A red dot blossomed on his finger, and he held it over the page, letting a single drop of blood make contact with the parchment.

"What the heck is that gonna-" Dani began, but she trailed off when she saw the effect the simple drop of fluid was having. Instead of soaking into the page like any other liquid, the blood sat atop the page. Then the blood began to dance around the page, forming dozens of symbols, filling the entire surface of the paper.

"Amazing…." Vlad uttered in awe. It took him a few seconds to come to his senses, and he began to translate the entire page into English. It took many hours, and Dani amused herself by aping ghost flies out of the air, turning them into frantically fluttering sparks.

As Vlad finished the final symbol, he turned to the page where the English translation was written.

"My god….." he whispered as he read. He quickly rolled up the paper into a scroll and shoved it into his belt. "Come Danielle, we have to get out of here", he said in a quick and slightly frantic voice as he floated towards the exit of chamber.

"What is it?" Dani asked, getting to her feet and floating after Vlad as fast as she could "What does that say?" As they reached the golden archway Vlad opened his mouth to reply, but he was cut off by a cool silky voice that made even the former villains skin crawl.

"Why yes, Vlad, why don't you tell us what's written there?" Both halfas turned on their heels to see standing behind them, Dan, the fright knight at his side. The demonic phantom had a malicious grin on his lips, and his eyes glowed with pure insanity. In one motion Vlad stepped in front of Danielle, shoving the scroll roughly into her hands.

"Go", he hissed, not taking his eyes off of the ghost and demon before them. "Get that to Daniel, hell know what that means."

"No!" Dani cried indignantly. "I want to fight, I'm not some helpless little girl!" Vlad peered over hjis shoulder, and in a low warm voice he said.

"Of course you're not, but you'll be completely useless if you die here, and I doubt your brother would forgive me if I were to let you throw your life away. Now. Go!" Dani hesitated for a moment, but then with a nod she flew through the arch, towards the exit to the library.

"Now that's surprising", Dan mused, twirling a finger through his flame like beard. "The high and mighty Vlad Plasmius defending the girl he once tried to kill. Not only that, but he fights alongside his former enemies, trying to achieve the most ridiculous of goals, _redemption. _

And just look at you! Even your appearance has changed, your skin has reverted to normal, your eyes are green, and you look exactly like your pathetic human form, apart from your hair. You truly are pathetic, and to think I considered recruiting you myself."

Vlad instantly took on a fighting stance, forming purple spheres in each hand.

"I find it hard to believe you considered turning me to your cause. Unlike you, I still retain my soul, and the company you keep tends to lack any souls that you haven't twisted and burned to your will. As to my redemption, I do not deserve it. But your counterpart, who is much better company by the way, has given me a second chance. A chance I intend to take. And you may be curious as to what that paper said, you will find out soon enough, for it holds the key to your destruction, and I intend to help that case with all of my being."

And with that, the prodigal ghost charged forward…

**LINEBREAK**

The first image that Danny saw was one from nearly a decade ago. It showed three tiny children sitting in a sand box, playing cheerfully. This was the day long ago when he and tucker had become friends with Sam, after that day, the trio was inseparable.

The images flew past his face, showing him all the memories, every single moment they had shared together in a single flash. He smiled as he watched, those were some of the greatest times of his life, in fact all of his greatest moments had been with her. Then loves voice echoed in his head.

"Ask yourself Danny, could you have done it without her? Would you be here without her? Would you even want to be? Love is the fire that burns within the soul my friend, it give us hope, strength, and the will to fight on. Now hold onto your love, bring it close to your heart of hearts, and embrace it. Let the strength hope and courage Sam gives you, fill you spirit….. and now, let it out!" Danny felt himself tremble as his body began to shake.

All the memories, their times together, and the times they would have together, flashed before him once more. And as he opened his eyes, they began to glow, as love shined through him like a beacon, calling him home…


	15. Chapter 15

**Ok everybody, I'm back, would've been here sooner if I didn't suffer from chronic writers block! Now here we go, enjoy!**

**LINEBREAK**

Vlad charged forward at high speed, energy pulsating from his hands like heat from a radiator, pumping every last bit of his already depleted energy into a single attack. The purple ectoplasm that came forth from his hands formed into a sort of half-dome barrier on front of him as he flew towards his opponent, the many loose papers and books becoming smoldering ash in his wake.

Now this was an incredibly rash decision for the fallen villain, whose plans for domination of the free world had always been meticulously planned and extremely complex. But now it was his final stand, no time for plotting or witty banter, just time enough to fight, and pray to any deity that may be listening for mercy.

There was a massive crackling noise Vlad's barrier made contact with Dan's single raised finger, throwing him back into a row of shelves, closely followed by a thin beam of energy from Dan's finger tip, hitting him directly in the stomach. Dozens of heavy books fell upon his exhausted figure as Dan casually approached the wreckage. He plunged his heavily armored fist into the pile of books and debris, pulling Vlad out by the throat.

The aged halfas clothing was torn, blood dripping from slightly ajar mouth, and his eyes were out of focus as he did his best to remain conscious. Dan easily lifted him up to his eyes level as he grinned maliciously, his snake like tongue taking in the scent of pain.

"Follow the girl" he order the fright knight, not taking his gaze from his prey. "Bring me that scroll, I'll deal with our little friend here. We'll have a great time, wont we Vlad?" He asked in a mock innocent voice, as if he were a child on a playdate.

"Yes my liege" the knight replied with a bow, climbing aboard his winged steed in a heartbeat, taking off in a flurry of black scaly wings. The demonic king watched him go, then his attention returned to Vlad.

"You know, Vlad" he began as if to strike up a casual conversation. "It was thanks to you, well, the you of my time that I was able to be born. You're part of me you know, I could not be what I am today were it not for you my old friend." He paused, his blood red eyes baring straight into Vlads, which were now blue and swollen, nothing more than slits.

"Don't you see what I'm saying, Vlad? Even in a timeline not your own, everywhere you go, everything that you do, causes nothing but pain. Pain is the only thing you know how to create, the only thing you are capable of creating. So why seek this worthless redemption? Why crawl to your enemies doorstep on your knees like the pathetic insect that you are? What is there to gain? I'll answer that question for you, nothing….. Nothing but more pain and misery for yourself.

But I am different than you, better than you are Vlad, better than you ever were. I don't have ridiculous emotions holding me back, and there was a time that you didn't either. All that drove you was the thirst, lust for what you wanted, but now you've strayed from our path my friend, you tried to walk the path of good, be _prodigal_ of all things."

Dan raised his right hand, a black orb the size of a marble formed in his palm, whirring with the energy of thousands of suns in a single compressed form.

"Now before I end you, answer me this, my friend. What did you think would come of your _redemption?_ Didn't you know that it would be the end of you?" Vlad made deep rasping noises, spitting blood from his mouth as he struggled to speak, using the rest of his remaining energy just to open his eyes. Then he spoke in nothing more than a whisper, his voice faint, but determined.

"You-you're right, I-I am different than you. And I did once walk the same path as you did, I saw nothing more than my own foolish ambitions, of domination, of destruction. In that sense I was the same as you, but what really make me different than you, is that I decided to change, I sought the path of light, sought forgiveness I did not deserve. And now I will no love, and friendship, things you do not understand, and that it why I pity you."

Dan's face contorted in anger, his eyes flashing as he slammed Vlad into a nearby pillar. He brought his face close to vVads, and whispered.

"_You pity me, Vlad Plasmius?_ _When compared to you I am a god, and I will show you what the price is for insolence." _Dan raised the marble-like sphere of energy to Vlads face, ready to strike, when Vlad spoke in an even quieter voice, a single sentence.

"Plasmius is dead, I am Vlad Masters". Dan let go, and the prodigal halfa fell to the ground in a heap, reverting back to his human form, which simply changed his hair from black to white. Dan smirked at the body before him, and with a wave of his cloak he disappeared in a cloud of black mist.

**LINEBREAK**

Dani flew as fast as her underdeveloped ghostly form could carry her, knocking over bookshelves, and knocking everything aside as she fled. She heard a great screech from behind, and turned over in midair, now flying as if she were laying down, backwards, at high speed. Her eyes widened in horror as she made out the fright knight in the distance, pushing his horse to its limits to catch her.

She flipped back over, taking care to hold onto the scroll Vlad had given her, and picking up speed. Dani arrived in the entrance hall of the library, the door within sight, when a knife of energy flew through the air, cutting the pillars beside the door at their bases. The pillars collapsed, blocking the entrance.

"Well great" Dani muttered as she landed before the barrier blocking her progress. The fright knights steed landed, taking an extra fifteen feet to stop. The winged horse veered wildly as it's rider leapt off.

"I'll admit that you're fast little girl, but you are no match for my steed!" he boasted as he approached her. "Now hand over the scroll, or I will be forced to end your pathetic existence". Dani rolled her eyes, and would have made some kind of witty remark if the knight wasn't twice as strong as her, with a million times more combat experience. (she isn't weak, she just hasn't had much training or experience, thus she can't measure up to a lot of higher level enemies.)

"You're gonna kill me anyway" Dani replied as the spirit of Halloween backed her into a corner. "But you're never gonna get this" she said holding up the scroll and placing it in her belt. The knight chuckle menacingly as he pulled a long sword from the sheath on his back.

"You truly are the clone of Phantom, you have the same rash attitude, and can never accept that you're beaten. It's a pity you haven't had time to develop you abilities, girl, you might have actually be a challenge." He charged forward, lunging with his sword. Dani sidestepped to the right, the blade making a long cut on her upper bicep.

She winced in pain, but nonetheless fought back. She filled her hand with energy as she stepped in towards her opponent, coming in with a hook punch. The knight caught it in his free hand, jerking her forward. He spun around, tossing her into the air. She regained her composure mid flight, and did a dive bomb straight at her sword wielding foe, letting loose a hail storm of ecto blasts.

The fright knight stood his ground, bending his knees slightly, and raised his left forearm, and a shield made of purple and black metal formed, Dani's attacks bouncing off harmlessly. The young clones attacks had been stopped, but she was still hurling at the knight at high speed, her fists raised and glowing.

The knight stepped aside as she flew in, snatching her clean out of the air, swinging her vertically over his head, and slamming her into the stone ground. He stepped over her, one hand holding her to the floor by the neck, the other holding his sword, which was raised and ready. His grip was so tight that she couldn't speak, and could hardly breath. He reached down to her silver belt with his sword hand, and pried the scroll loose from it.

"And now that I have what I need, you die, any regrets?" Instead of an reply, she answered him by spitting in his face, literally. He slowly wiped her saliva from the eye holes of his helmet, which now glowed with rage.

"Very well" he hissed down at her grinning face. "You'll die quickly then. Pity, I was hoping to listen to you scream". Dani's eyes slammed shut as he raised his sword, but instead of being stabbed in the chest, a massive explosion filled the room. The blocked entrance had been blasted to bits, and a the air seemed to get colder.

"Really, attacking a lovely young lady? That is low, even for you fright knight!" a deep voice boomed through the lobby. Dani turned her head in the knights grip, and the knight looked up to see half a dozen massive figures enter the room. These were yeti ghosts, Frostbite in front of the pack, covered in icy armor, a ice horned helmet, and in his hands was a huge icy war-hammer.

Frostbite leapt forward, slamming his hammer into the ground, shaking the very foundations of the library. From the point the weapon struck, the whole room began to fill with ghostly ice, covering everything from the walls to the fright Knight, apart from the scroll he held in his hands. Dani crawled out from under her now statue like enemy and stood up.

She turned to her savior, but paused to stick out her tongue at the knight, and wrench the scroll from his frozen hands.

"Thank you" she panted as she approached Frostbite and his battalion. "I thought I was a goner". Frostbite smiled down at her.

"Anything for the sibling of the great one!" he boomed.

"But how did you find me?" Dani asked curiously.

"Well…."Frostbite began nervously, shuffling his feet around. He motioned to the armored yeti at his right, who handed him a large rectangular device that beeped and whirred. "We were searching for the great one and the magnificent one, but because all three of your DNA strands are identical our tracker mistook you for one of them". Dani sighed, she'd have to build up her own reputation with these guys before they went off purposely searching for her.

"Wait", she said. "I know Danny is the 'great one', but who is the 'magnificent one?" she asked.

"Why Daniel of course!" Frostbite boomed. "He accomplished all of the same feats as the Danny, and many more, but we can't have two great one can we?"

"Guess not" Dani grumbled back.

"But I must ask" Frostbite said, taking another step forward and kneeling down to Dani's eye level. "Is why the servant of the dark one was so keen on obtaining this scroll?" he asked, peering over at the fright knight/statue. She blinked in a confusion for a moment, before remembering the crumpled scroll clenched in her fist.

"Oh yeah! Vlad translated it from this weird book before….. before he sacrificed himself." A single tear formed in her eye. Frostbite placed a comforting hand(or claw, I don't know what he has) on her shoulder.

"I am sorry, his sacrifice will not be in vain, I promise." He took the scroll from her hand and quickly unfurled it.

"Dear….dear god!" he whispered in shock as he read the scroll. He clambered to his feet and turned to his men. "We must go". He turned to Dani. "Come, we must get this to Daniel, before it's too late".

**LINEBREAK**

Hours passes, and the blood that leaked from Vlad's broken body slowly began to dry and harden to the stone floor. The ghost writer floated into the room, followed by the most diverse group possible to have.

"He's right here" the writer drawled, not sounding very interested, turning to the ghost to his right. "I doubt he's even alive, but regardless, take him, I don't need his corpse smelling up my library."

"Right" Skulker as the writer left. "Technus, check his vitals" he said to one of his companions. The white haired master of technology floated forward and pulled a large machine from nowhere, and began linking small wires to the temples, forehead and chest of Vlad.

"Where does he keep all that crap?" Ember, the ghostly guitarist asked from beside her boyfriend (skulker if you don't know, its in the show I didn't make it up) Technus looked up at her, seemingly insulted.

"Do you question my abilities? The abilities of I Techus! Master of technol-" he said in his usual over dramatic fashion, but was cut off by Skulkers fist making contact with his jaw.

"Shut up and check him!" the hunter bellowed angrily. "We need to get back to the wasteland as soon as possible, the others can't hold the base if it's attacked".

"I still don't understand why we came looking for this guy" Ember said jabbing her finger at Vlad. "He's cause us nothing but shit".

"Yes," Skulker agreed. "But if this new army wins they'll be nothing left anywhere, which means we all must fight side by side, even with our enemies." Ember nodded.

"He's dead!" Technus call to them. "Well, his living body is, but his ectoplasm and soul are still there! If I can get the body to my lab I may be able to revive him as a full ghost". Skulker slung the body of his onetime employer over his shoulder.

"Let's go".

**Ok! I'm done, I decided not to "kill" vlad, but remember that Dani and several others think he is. Also note that ghosts like Skulker Technus and Ember don't know about Daniel yet, or about the true source of the demonic army in the ghost zone, they just know that their homes are threatened**.


	16. Chapter 16

**I'm real sorry I didn't get this out sooner, now here's an odd question, with past chapters the lines I put in don't seem to show up, so tell me if you see the one I put below, but just in case I'll put LINEBREAK. Happy reading.**

There was a blinding flash of white and blue light as Danny's eyes erupted open. Sam screamed as his head floated out of her lap, his whole body rising up several feet off the ground.

Then the glowing slowly began to fade, and his body seemed to reposition itself in midair until it was upright. The glowing ceased completely, leaving Danny standing there, scratching the back of his head.

"Pretty weird experience, huh?" Daniel asked with a smile, enjoying the look of shock and exhilaration on his younger counterparts face.

"Yeah" Danny said numbly, still scratching the back of his head. "I didn't expect love to be a goth".

"Love?" Sam asked with a raised eyebrow, confusion evident in her face and features. Danny and Daniel exchanged an awkward look, before saying at the exact same time.

"You wanna tell her?" they asked each other. There was another awkward silence before Daniel finally sighed.

"I'll tell her" he volunteered. "Well, I already told you that you were our ghostly obsession". He turned to Danny. "I couldn't just tell you that because part of embracing your ghostly obsession is discovering it on your own." He turned back to Sam.

"Inside our inner world it's basically a recreation of all the places that have been important in our lives, Fenton works, Casper High, the Nasty Burger, and so on. Inside of the world are six beings who personify our emotions. They all look like us but dress accordingly to the emotion they represent, and in this case, Love is a goth."

Sam stared at him blankly for a moment, her thoughts racing around her brain, bouncing annoyingly of the edges, making this information hard to process properly. She had always had a crush on Danny for as long as she could remember, so for roughly ten years now.

It was in recent years that she concluded that she loved him, and was overjoyed that he returned her feelings, but she had no idea that the idea of her and her personality would form itself into his inner personification of love itself.

But she wasn't the type of girl who would burst into tears and have a spaz moment and bury herself into her mans shoulders, no she was the type of girl who shrugged something off as boring and kept her real feelings on the subject to herself, well at least in open company. So this is what she said as an alternative.

"Wow" she said in a neutral tone, though she was unable to conceal a smile on her lips. "I didn't see that coming." Danny smiled at her reserved attitude; Sam had always been like that always been like that.

"Ok" Daniel said in a serious diplomatic tone, breaking up the blushy staring contest between his future wife/past girlfriend and his younger counterpart. He turned to Sam.

"Well, if you're ready I think we can try to-"suddenly a loud bang sounded within the icy dome, echoing off the shiny liquid surface.

Then a large pink-purple cube of energy burst through the cracking surface of the dome, creating a hole barely three feet across at the very top of the dome. A hefty figure, dripping in sweat, clearly at the brink of exhaustion squeezed himself through the hole. He wore dark purple overalls with a matching beanie. Underneath he wore a gray undershirt and gray gloves.

He panted heavily as he spun around in midair, his eyes lighting up triumphantly as he spotted the odd looking threesome below.

"Yes!" the box ghost exclaimed waving his fists around dramatically. "I, the box ghost, have found them using my newly attained power!!"

"Wow" Daniel whispered to the younger halfas. "He got his new power a lot earlier than I remember, oh well". The box ghost flew down to their level, striking his usual pose he said.

"Beware! I am the b-"

"The box ghost" Daniel, Danny, and Sam answered as one, eyes narrowed in annoyance.

"Fear not!" the box ghost said with way too much dramatic emphasis. "For I have not come as your foe! I come bearing a message from the wasteland resistance!"

"The wasteland resistance?" Danny and Sam parroted confusedly. Daniel however was unfazed, and approached the box ghost.

"What does Skulker have to say to us?" he asked quickly. The box ghost had to crane his neck to look the much taller ghost in the eye, his eyes filled with fear. (he doesn't know who he is)

"I-I'm supposed to find the ghost kid, Skulker wants him at the headquarters, now." Daniel nodded, gazing off into space, deep in thought.

"I'm surprised Skulker formed the resistance so quickly, then again he was always good at rallying people, too bad it doesn't help his hunting abilities much." He said quietly, before looking over his shoulder at his companions.

"Come on, let's go, we needed to build an army, now we can get one."

"But what's the resistance?" Danny asked as he assisted Sam in leaping into the air, the box ghost leading the way.

"It's a group founded by Skulker to fight off Dan's rule, you know almost everyone in it, I didn't know you were in it though" he called to the box ghost.

"Well… yeah" the box ghost said solemnly, dropping his usual dramatic behavior. "None of the others really like me much, Skulker probably sent me 'cause he thought I'd get myself killed, even with my new power." He paused to look at them. "At least I have my wife and daughter, don't know what I'd do without them."

"Wife and daughter?!" Danny and Sam exclaimed in shock, nearly falling out of the air.

"Yeah" Daniel said "The lunch lady's his wife, and his daughter is Box lunch. You met her once, remember? Clockwork sent her to kill you originally."

"Oh yeah" Danny said as he remembered.

"Yes," Box ghost said smiling. "She's my little girl, so much like her mother it's scary." He turned to Daniel in midair. "I don't know who you are but you sure know a lot, we need people like you back at base, especially since what happened to Plasmius."

"What!" the three halfas exclaimed, their eyes growing wide. Daniel grabbed the box ghost by the shoulder and spun him around to face him.

"What happened to Plasmius?" he demanded, his green eyes boring themselves into the box ghost's, which now were full of fear.

"Th-they found him in the ghost library. H-he was dead but Technus is working making him a full ghost". He stammered out slowly, completely and utterly terrified.

"Was there anyone with him?" Daniel demanded shaking him. "Was there a girl with him!?"

"N-no" Box ghost replied, desperate to be out of Daniel's grip. "He was alone, there wasn't another body, that's all I know!" Daniel released him, his breath becoming ragged as he rubbed his temples with anxiety.

"Oh no" Sam whispered, a single tear coming to her eye. "Dani".

"I should have known this would happen" Daniel said as paced back and forth in midair. "I should have known he'd go for Vlad, I should have known!" When the words left his mouth the floating doors and rocks around them shook violently, sonic waves escaping his mouth as he roared. Danny, Sam and the box ghost backed away in fear as the eldest halfa fumed.

It took a few moments, but eventually he regained his composure as he slowly clamed himself down.

"Sorry" he apologized. "I kinda lost it there for a second, thought maybe I'd sent them both to death, but Dani's a strong girl, she probably got away". But even as he said it there was a tone of worry in his voice. He turned to the box ghost.

"Let's go"

**LINEBREAK  
**It was a very tense atmosphere that filled the fortress of the observant's. The entire realm was in chaos, as infernal beings poured into the ghost zone, led by a new devil, who wielded power beyond anything anyone on the council of observants had ever seen before.

On top of that, there go-to-guy Clockwork, whom they had always relied on and used as their greatest veto card had allowed all of it to happen, had allowed different timelines to mix and integrate, which could bring nothing but pure and utter chaos.

The fortress itself however was filled with chaos. Messengers flew all over the places, noise filled every corridor, right down to the dungeons where Clockwork sighed in his cell.

"Told you so" he whispered in a singsong voice as he lay on his cot, head in his arms, slightly annoyed that the chaos he had warned the observants about was interrupting his first nap in five millennia.

Upstairs in the grand council room, all of the observants were gathered, where the head observant sat in the most elaborate chair, covered in decorative designs including a large green eye. The room was a vast circular chamber with a large circular table filling most of it. Torches with green flames lined the walls, and at each place at the table was a large silver goblet.

The head stood, Clockworks staff in his hand as he called the council to order.

"I shall $skip the usual introductions and roll call" the head declared in a grim voice, peering around at his comrades, who all sat at the edge of their seats. "You are all aware of the darkness that threatens the order of our realm, a darkness that our _friend_ Clockwork has purposely allowed to occur."

He paused as a quiet murmur spread around the table, as the councilmen relayed this information to one another in shocked voices.

"The time for action has come" the head boomed. "Please my fellow council members, if you believe anything, anything can be done to avert this crisis, I beg of you, speak now."

"I believe I have a solution" a voice from seemingly nowhere spoke to them. They all looked around frantically for the source of the voice, but then there was a loud crack, and in the center of the table formed a dark purplish mist, out of which stepped the devil himself. There were loud gasps, chairs clattered to the floor as several people attempted to flee, only to be reduced to ash.

"Now really" Dan said as he paced around the table, his trademark fanged grin plastered to his features. "Having a press conference without inviting me, well that's just rude!" The tone of his voice was terrifyingly comical given the situation. Dan opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted when a green energy ball made contact with the side of his face, dissipating harmlessly.

The grin was instantly gone. He slowly turned to see the head observant with his hand raised in his direction, smoke from his attack billowing from his finger tips.

"You are not welcome here, demon" the head declared, holding the staff of time (clockworks staff) behind him defensively.

"Attacking house guests" Dan said in a dark and ominous tone, his blood red eyes aflame with anger. "I honestly expected better from the highest government in the ghost zone. I guess I have to lower my expectations". His raised his hand, and the head bellowed.

"Attack!" All the observants released their energy their energy in a flurry of light and sound, forming a massive cloud of dust and dirt in the center of the room. They stopped their attack, watching closely.

The dust cleared revealing Dan, surrounded by a bubble of fizzing negative energy. The shield dropped and Dan's grin returned.

"This should be fun". The demonic king slammed his fist into the ground. Massive cracks began to form all along the ground as the whole room shook. Wave after wave of black flowed from the cracks, the observant's shrieks of agony filled the chamber.

And then there was nothing left but masses of green goo on the ground, all that remained of the council, well, almost. There was a loud coughing and spluttering noise, and Dan peered at the ground, to see the head on the ground, green blood flowing from his every pore as he grasped the staff of time in his trembling hands.

"Y-you'll never have it" he said weakly, blood pouring from his giant eye of a head. Dan smirked as he lifted the staff in his hand, lifting the head along with it.

"Oh, but it's already mine" he dealt a single punch to the head's chest, sending him hurtling into the opposite wall. Dan held the staff firmly, grinning as he looked over the tool that controlled time itself.

"Now the real fun can begin".


	17. Chapter 17

**Ok here's another chapter, OMG Dan can control time! What will happen next? You gotta read to find out, sorry. Now here we go. Note that this is where the plot gets more complicated, well that's bound the happen when the villain gets control over something as omnipotent as time, so keep with me.**

Dani rode silently on Frostbite's massive shoulders as they flew through the wasteland of the ghost zone. The young halfa could sense the tension in the yeti leader. Ever since he had taken the scroll from her, Frostbite had been in a huge hurry, pushing his battalion as fast as they could.

The technician who possessed the DNA tracking device flew steadily at Frostbite's right, meticulously monitoring the device, attempting to hone in on Danny and Daniel's signatures, as supposed to the clone now accompanying them who they had found by accident.

It annoyed Dani that whenever she attempted to ask Frostbite about the contents of the scroll that Vlad had probably given his life for, he shushed her saying that now there was no time to explain. Her heart was heavy with remorse. She hadn't trusted Vlad, then again he hadn't really deserved it, but he had proven that he was worthy of redemption, and Dani genuinely regretted that she hadn't been able to do anything more.

"Lord Frostbite" the technician suddenly said as the tracking device began beeping profusely. "They're on the move, sir! Follow my lead!" The whole battalion instantly veered to the left, the technician now in the lead, eyes glue to the tiny screen of the tracking device.

"What's so important about that scroll!?" Dani blurted out for the hundreds time. Frostbite sighed heavily, peering over his shoulder at the petite girl that sat there.

"I have told you young one, it is far too complex to explain at the moment." Dani huffed indignantly, arms crossed and lips pursed.

"But I'm the one who gave it to you! Don't I have a right to know?" Frostbite sighed once again, she had him there.

"Yes, I suppose it does" the yeti agreed reluctantly. "Like I said, it is too complex to explain at the time, at least to explain it completely. The scroll contains a prophecy from the celestial book, and it foretells the fate of three beings, your brother, the Magnificent one, and the dark one." Dani blinked.

"So you mean it tells the future? What's so complicated about that!?" she said waving her arms in exasperation. Frostbite chuckled lightly.

"It may sound simple at first, but it is a Celestial prophecy. It does not simply state the future, it foretells it in riddles and double meanings."

"Oh" Dani said quieting down, a little confused. Then a new, worrisome thought occurred to her. "Wait, if you're in such a hurry to find Danny and Daniel that must mean something bad is going to happen, right?" Frostbite looked away solemnly, his eyes downcast and half closed.

"The prophecy did reveal events that none of us want to occur. Now we must warn Daniel, or these events will be made inevitable."

**LINEBREAK**

The box ghost led the trio of halfas through the wasteland, and into the desert sector of ghost zone, which had bluish gray sand that swirled around them even when they were high above the ground. They approached a large mound of sand nearly fifty feet tall. The box ghost gave off a loud whistle, and a great rumbling noise began.

They watched as the sand slowly crumbled away as a massive green skull emerged from the mound, its mouth wide open. Within the mouth was a large set of metal blast doors, which, like almost everything in the ghost zone, were tinted green.

"Wow" Daniel said scratching the back of his head. "This thing was built fast, it's only been like three days."

"Oh yes" the box ghost said. "Skulker and Technus worked together on it, evenif its found you cant get in unless your with a resistance member."

"I can't believe Skulker is doing something _good_" Danny commented, alswo scratching the back of his head. "Usually all he cares about is hunting me". They followed the box ghost as he approached the doors, and clicked a large red button beside it. A panel above the door retracted, and a pure green, slit like eye peered through it.

"It's about time you returned" said a deep voice that all three halfas recognized as Walker's. "I'm actually surprised Box Ghost, you didn't screw it up". The box ghost muttered angrily under his breath as the doors slid open with a loud grinding sound. They floated into a small circular chamber, that was completely empty except for a control panel on the wall.

"Hello, ghost boy" Walker said with a smirk, his arms folded in his usual dignified manner. He looked over at Daniel and Sam. "I don't remember you being order to get extras whoever they are. I guess you are worthless trash after all".

"I am not trash!" the Box ghost bellowed angrily. "I am the box ghost!"

"Oh whatever" Walker waved him off casually. "We could use an extra hand around here anyway, Skulker can put you to work". The ghostly prison warden turned to the control panel and with a few quick clicks the whole room began to descend into the desert sands. It was several minutes before the elevator hit the ground with a dull thud, and the doors swung open.

The doors opened to reveal a much larger circular chamber, with half a dozen hallways branching off of it. The hall was very crowded, dozens of ghosts entered and exited from every direction, some carrying weapons, other carrying the wounded on stretchers. The whole chamber was dark and dank, dimly lit by several lamps hanging from the ceiling. The box ghost left them to go see his family.

Several heads turned as they passed, all eyes on Danny, as he was the one all of them recognized. Walker led them through the crowds toward the center hall way, which had a metal sign welded above it reading "central control". They passed quickly through the hall, as it had very little light and was even danker than the entry way.

The room at the end of the hall was huge and dome shaped, with computer monitors and other beeping devices filling every inch of the walls and ceiling. Around the edges of the dome were dozens of long terminals, each with a ghost typing furiously on a keyboard. There was an odd circular panel on the ground nearly ten feet long and raised three or four inches off the ground.

"I wondered when you'd show up, whelp", a familiar voice said to them. They turned to see Skulker spin around in a chair to face them. "I'd of thought you'd come to help us immediately, especially after how we help you, ghost child".

"I'm kind of surprised it's you leading this group Skulker" Danny said honestly.

"Yeah" Sam agreed. "Usually all you talk about is placing his pelt at the foot of your bed". Both Danny and Sam shuddered at the thought.

"So you have powers now, do you girl? I knew it was stupid for Undergrowth to possess a human" Skulker said dryly, standing up from his seat. His eyes caught Daniel, his green flame eyebrows rising in curiosity. "Who the hell are you supposed to be?" Daniel smirked as he blew a stray lock of hair from his face as he stepped towards the hunter.

"Am I really that unrecognizable, Skulker? My appearance hasn't changed that much."Skulker laughed mirthfully.

"Sorry, but I only remember what I deem worthy of remembering, you must have quite a weak opponent because I don't ever recall hunting you". He said all of this with his usual smirk.

"Do you know the nature of the enemy you face?" Daniel asked. "Do you know what he is?"

"Of course" Skulker said, obviously becoming very annoyed with him. "He is a genetic blend of Plasmius and Phantoms ectoplasm from an alternate future who has absorbed the power of the infernal king" he smirked. "I'm very well informed as you can see, now if don't mind I'd like to speak to the whelp behind you, he owes us".

"I am from another future, alternate to his, I am Daniel Phantom" he gestured to Danny. "I used to be this guy". Skulker blinked, and many of the ghosts sitting around the edges of the room spun around in their chairs to look at him.

"You…. Are from the future you say?" he stammered out clumsily, still carefully taking in his appearance. "Prove it" he demanded in a loud voice, causing several of the technicians to whimper in fear.

"Very well, you can tell your friends to come in, I'm only saying this once." Skulker hesitated, angry about being told what to do by someone who was wasn't even sure who he was. He brought his wrist to his face and pressed a button, speaking into it.

"Get in here, the ghost child is here, and it seems he's brought guests." Instantly several figures descended in from the ceiling, landing in a circle around Skulker and the halfa trio. Among them were Ember, her guitar slung over her shoulder, The Lunch Lady and the Box ghost cradling a small ghost baby in between them, Princess Dora, Johny 13 with Kitty on his arm, and Technus, who had a tiny device in his hand, obviously checking some kind of data.

"Ok, I'll assume you were all listening in on that" Daniel inquired his ghostly enemies. They all absently acknowledged him. "Well good, if you want proof of who I am, just look at my chest". He broadened his chest, shifting the armored plates that covered it. His enemies peered at it to see the ever familiar DP symbol."

"Yep, that's dipstick's mark alright" Ember commented dryly. "So I'm guessing none of us manage to kil you then, that's a bummer".

"Yeah" Johny 13 agreed. "You got old, man we must suck in the future".

"You're all idiots!" Skulker roared angrily. "Just because he wears the stupid logo doesn't mean it's him, he could be a spy!" he looked over at Danny and Sam. "They could ALL be spies…." Ember placed a hand on her boyfriends shoulder (yes they are dating, they say that in 'Girls Night Out').

"Come one babe, he looks just like him, has the dumb looking logo, and he hangs out with a depressing goth girl" she looked the group over. "And now he hangs out with the short puny version of himself, it's kind of obvious it's him".

"I can vouch for them", Dora said stepping forward. "I met him earlier, he is who he says he is". Skulker snorted clearly not convinced.

"Ok" Daniel conceded. "I can prove I'm from the future." He turned to Ember. "You found out three days ago that you're pregnant, it end up being a boy who you call Blaze." At this point it was hard to tell who was the most surprised, Ember, Skulker, or Danny and Sam. "I know this because while you try to hunt me, your son tried to woo my daughter…. Little bastard" he muttered the last par under his breath.

"So you two _do _end up together" Kitty said with a mischievous grin. "It's about time" Danny and Sam shared another'blushy moment'. Skulker still looked dumbfounded, ember trying, and failing to get him to speak.

"There's time for stories later" Daniel said taking on a diplomatic tone. "I was told that the remains of Vlad Masters were taken here, that he could be made into a pure ghost".

"Yes" Technus said stepping forward. "I, Technus, Master of technology have created a device to preserve his ectoplasm and mind, It's really groovy!" Everyone rolled their eyes at his lack of lingo from this century. Technus raised the device, clicked a button, and the circular panel at their feet began to spin.

They stepped off of it, not sure what was happening. The panel spun out of the ground, to reveal a large tube of green fluid, in which lay a very pale looking Vlad. He was stripped of his outer garments, with wires running all over his body, and a respirator over his mouth.

"Oh god Vlad" Daniel muttered as he ran his hand over the glass. "What has that monster done to you?"


	18. Chapter 18

**I'm really sorry! I took a lot longer on this than I wanted to, and I wasn't even busy, I just have the world worst attention span (chases after butterfly). Well I hope you like this next one, please review!**

Danny, Daniel and Sam stood within the barracks of the underground base of the ghostly resistance. Skulker and Ember had retreated somewhere to discuss her pregnancy, while the others returned to work, leaving the trio to their own devices for the time being. They had been told that Vlad would be able to make the transition to a fully fledged ghost, but it would take time.

Ghosts were constantly flowing in and out, donning themselves in armor and equipping themselves with weapons of all kinds. The trio stood close together, attempting to stay out of the way. Daniel stood with his face away from the others pointed towards the wall, chin resting in his hands, thoughts racing in every direction.

How could he have let this happen to Vlad? It seemed to him that he had led the former villain down the path to redemption, straight to his demise. His thoughts then shifted to Dani, his worry worsening to an incalculable degree. Had he not only condemned his new friend to death, but his own clone/sister as well? He shook his head in disbelief at his own foolishness, when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't do that" Sam said seriously, her eyes piercing his very soul.

"Do what?" he replied absentmindedly, trying to avoid what he knew she was implying.

"You know what!" she said harshly, anger clear in her face. "You're doing what you always do, both of you!" she spun around to face Danny, who responded with only a nervous smile, not wanting to get involved. After all, an argument between an older version of himself and his girlfriend, nothing good would come out of that.

"Whenever someone gets hurt you always blame yourself, what happened to Vlad isn't your fault!" she bellowed angrily, turning the heads of several passing ghosts. Both Danny and Daniel stared at her for a moment, finding it very hard to regain their composure after an outburst from the most emotionally reserved person they knew.

"Sam-" Danny began, but he was instantly cut off.

"No Danny" she said quietly but firmly. "You both know it's true, you drive yourselves insane with guilt about things you couldn't have prevented even if you were there, it's so infuriating!" she roared.

"Sam" Daniel said as he regained his calm tone. She glared into his bright green eyes, he chuckled a little. "Wow, you sound just like I remember, I couldn't count all the times you've told me that, it always helped to…" he trailed off for a moment, staring into nothingness.

"But how do you think I feel now? I saw you, our children, my parents, Tucker, Valerie and their kids, everyone….die" he said with a stony face. "I know what you'll say, 'it isn't your fault it's Dan's'. But how can I not blame myself? I'm a father, I'm supposed to be a hero, heroes aren't supposed to lose, and yet I lost everything in less than a minute.

And now I've turned back the clock, got a second chance, and then I send Dani to her death, along with Vlad only days after he's turned over a new leaf. So tell me, why shouldn't I blame myself?"

Danny and Sam gaped at him, mouth hanging open, they hadn't expected that. Danny could understand Daniels feeling to an extent, like Sam said, he did indeed blame himself whenever something went wrong, and he often drove himself crazy with all the what-ifs of every situation. But what Daniel had described was a whole new level.

Sam cautiously took a step towards the fuming Phantom, craning her neck to look directly up into his face.

"Daniel" Sam said in the softest voice Danny had ever heard. Daniel couldn't help but peer straight down into her face, the one he had known all his life.

"You don't know what happened to Dani, if she's anything like you or Danny, she got out on the skin of her teeth and will probably be mad at us for-ever once doubting her" Daniel smiled knowingly, yep, she knew him alright. "And as to Vlad, he'll be a full ghost soon, he can still fight, and I know he wont blame you for what happened, he made his own choices".

Daniel sighed and turned to Danny.

"Useful tip, never doubt your girlfriend or wife, for one she's usually right, and second, if you _do _ doubt her you'll probably end up sleeping on the couch".

"Danny grinned and slung an arm around Sam's shoulder.

"I'll keep that in mind".

"Well, I'm going to check a few things out with Skulker. And I suggest you get a room before you start making out," he looked around the crowded barracks. "This isn't really the places for it", Danny cocked an eyebrow.

"Whoever said we'd be making out?" Daniel smiled.

"Do you deny you were going to?"

"Of course not" Sam said with a rare grin. "We're just waiting for you to leave". Daniel returned the famous Fenton grin, and with a flash he was gone.

**LINEBREAK**

"I am so bored!" Tucker complained loudly within the control chamber of the hidden cave beneath Amnity Park. The golden energy shield hummed lightly as it sustained itself, filling the chamber with bright light. Valerie sighed in annoyance. She had to admit, protecting thousands of unconscious civilians was not her job of choice, she would have preferred to go into combat instead of sitting on the sidelines.

"I know Tuck, I'm bored to, but what other choice do we have?" The last few days had been somewhat enjoyable for the two of them, as they discussed what they would ask Daniel about their future together. Valerie admitted that it was going fast, seeing as they had only been together for a week, but she had no qualms with accepting tucker as her future husband, they had years after all.

They had moved Jack and Maddie, Pamela and Jeremy, Tuckers parents, and Jazz to the edges of the wall where they now lay on inflatable mattresses. Jack's rhythmic snoring was becoming quite an annoyance.

"Can I ask you something" Tucker said swing around in his chair in front of the computer terminal to face the huntress.

"Sure, shoot" she replied, also turning to face him.

"In the memories that Daniel showed us….our kids were named Tyler and Katie. Tyler's my uncles name, but where there's no Katie in my family, is there anyone on your side with that name?" he asked nervously, shuffling his feet. Valerie laughed.

"Yeah, Kathleen was….was my mother's name" she trailed of sadly, instantly making Tucker wish he hadn't asked at all.

"Oh Val I'm sorry I didn't know" he said sympathetically. However Valerie smiled somewhat leaving her face.

"It's ok" she paused for moment. "I never have told you what happened to my mom, have I?" Tuckers face paled, but nevertheless he shook his head in reply.

"She died when I was three, breast cancer" Valerie told him sadly. "I was nine, after that my dad took a job here, and that's how we ended up in Amnity."

"Sorry I brought it up" Tucker said quietly, eyes to the floor, clearly disgusted with himself. But he felt her lips peck his cheek, and he looked up to see her smiling.

"I said it was ok, geez Tuck, sometimes you're nearly as stubborn as Danny!" she laughed.

"I'm nowhere near _that_ stubborn" he said with a grin. They both laughed contentedly, at least they had each other to occupy their time.

But as they enjoyed one another's company, they failed to notice that the shield generator in the center of the room was slowly starting to deteriorate. It's color began to faded, the metal began to rust, and the ecto-converters slowly began to crumple in on themselves, as if they were aging……

Daniel floated down the corridor, Sam's recent motivational talk fresh in his head, he avoided the traffic of ghosts that came his way. He came back to the entrance hall, and took the west hallway, at the end of which was a large steel door, with a 'DO NOT DISTURB' sigh hanging from it. Normally Daniel would simply phase through it, but he decided to be courteous, and rapped lightly on the door.

"WHAT?!" the loud voice of Skulker boomed from the other side.

"It's Daniel, Skulker". He heard a faint muttering from within the room, then he heard loud footsteps approach him. The door slid open to reveal a clearly flustered ghost hunter, his hair was a mess, which was weird considering his hair was a mass of green flames. Daniel peered past him to reveal a bed chamber with many weapons and various pelts hanging from the walls, along with several guitars on stands.

In the corner was a double bed, on which sat Ember, who held her hands in her lap, and her gaze to the cold metallic ground.

"Oh, it's you" the hunter murmured. "What is it you want? We are kind of in the middle of a conversation here" he told him irritably.

"I came to make battle plans" Daniel told him calmly, peering over Skulkers shoulder again. "But I believe I can help with your situation".

"And how is that?" Skulker said through gritted teeth, hands slowly breaking the doorway he stood in as he crunched it in frustration.

"He from the future" Ember said standing up, eye widening. "He can tell us how it all turns out, can't you?" Daniel nodded sagely.

"If it will help you resolve your concerns sooner and allow us to move onto our plans of attack, then yes, I will answer your questions." Skulker hesitated at first, but he slowly moved to one side, allowing the Phantom entry into the chamber. Daniel stood while the couple sat on the bed.

"What do you want to know?" They remained in silence for several moments before the ghostly guitarist spoke.

"You said it was a he, and his name was Blaze, right?" Daniel nodded. "What's he like? Are we still together in the future? Are-". But Skulker silenced her before she could begin to ramble, turns out pregnancy can turn even the angriest ghost into a hormonal mess. Daniel waited a moment for her to get a grip on herself with the help of a reassuring pat from her boyfriend, before answering.

"Yes, you are still together in the future, married in fact. And your son is, unfortunately for me, the perfect blend of both of you". The two ghosts looked confused as he withdrew the orb of memory, but their eyes widened as he projected a single image before them. Blaze was slender like his mother, but slightly bulkier due to being a male.

He had ember's flaming blue hair, and had a guitar strapped to his back. He wore similar armor to his father, and held a large hunting rifle in his hands, and on his face was the same arrogant smirk that both of his parents shared.

The two of them stared at it for several full minutes until Skulker spoke in awe.

"My god……" he turned to Daniel. "T-thank you…..whelp." Daniel smiled at the nickname.

"Now, I'm sure you have other questions, but now we have more important matters to discuss".

There was an ominous atmosphere around the floating clock tower, the air was thicker, and one could sense the ill attentions of its new inhabitants. Dan stood in the center of the tower, in one hand he held the staff of time, and in the other he held the shattered remains of a Fenton thermos, he long time prison.

Around him were dozens of glassy orb, each showing another period in history, another timeline, another reality. He held raised the staff, and let his energy flow through it. He could see time slow down, dust particles from the distant ceiling falling in slow motion.

"Let's see how far I can push it" he whispered to himself as he the staff with his power. The room began to shake and tremble, dozens of time medallions falling from their rack, as the very foundation of the tower shook. Then in an instant it stopped, and all seemed normal once again. Dan stumbled onto one knee in exhaustion.

"Blast!" he cursed to himself, looking the staff over carefully. "It seems it won't allow me its full power, I can manipulate time, slow it down, speed it up, even create new timelines altogether, but it will not allow me to alter the true timeline". He smiled.

"You are a crafty fellow Clockwork, but I do not need your full power to succeed, I have all I need…."

**Sorry for the lack of action in this chapter I was just trying to set the scene for some later fights and plot development. I hope you all understand what's happening with Dan, and what he can and cant do with the time staff. Look out Tucker and Valerie! Please review, and I'll see y'all soon. **


	19. Chapter 19

**Ok, I really meant to update this days ago, but sometimes I just find it hard to sit down and do it. Well, I left you with big cliffhangers at the end of last chapter, and some might be resolved here, or just be replaced by bigger ones…..well, on with it!  
**

There was no sound except for the light, and somewhat unnecessary breathing of Dan within the chamber of time. His eyes were focused on a single one of the many translucent orbs that surrounded him.

But this orb was different than the others, for it did not show another time or dimension, but a place during the present, the ultimate spying method. Within the orb were two people he'd known very well at some point during his mysterious and somewhat convoluted existence, Tucker Foley, and Valerie Grey.

He chuckled to himself as he watched them. Although he felt nothing for either of them anymore, he had admitted to himself that he somewhat missed Tuckers sense of humor. Then there was Valerie. He was originally denied the satisfaction of taking her life, she having narrowly avoiding his wrath with the help of Danny, when he was accidentally thrown into the future.

It would years later before he would finally end her life, although it had gone over much faster than he would have preferred, having been an instant death rather than a slow merciless and painful one. But only half of his consciousness was focused on the two teenagers. What he was truly focused on was the shield generator in the center of the room.

The staff of time hummed light in his palm, as he slowly poured energy into it, pointing it at the generator. It was with silent triumph that he watched as the source of their only defense slowly began to rust and age its way to destruction.

The devil found the wait for the shields the fall rather tedious, being unable to access full control over the staff he was forced to take it slowly for he may otherwise sporadically lose control of the unmatchable power of time.

Dan waved his free hand to his side, causing a second orb to float into his range of vision. The mist within it shifted, forming into the image of a group of several ghosts, gathered around a round table, debating loudly over a holographic map, obviously battle plans. Dan smirked at the sight of his enemies plotting.

"Next on the agenda" he said to no one but himself. "Caging the noble fool".

**LINEBREAK**

Daniel, Skulker and Ember moved their planning out of Skulker's quarters and into a side conference room. They had been joined by Danny and Sam, along with Walker, Johny 13 and Kitty, as well as Wulf. Technus couldn't join them as he was busy attending to Vlad's treatment.

On the round table in the center of the room was a large holographic map of the ghost zone, which despite its size still could not hold the whole of the ghost zone upon it. It wasn't surprising that with a group so diverse that they could hardly agree on anything.

It didn't help that only Daniel could understand what Wulf was saying, and that every one of the ghosts had a very different style of attack. For example Walker wanted to rely almost completely on his prison guard army, Skulker wanted an all out attack plan, and Johny didn't seem interested in anything apart from making out with Kitty.

"Cus, no mi gronoks mikano, friend?" Wulf inquired of Daniel in his strange language that only they understood.

"Mosi con gratisiti, leyu junik ione tonomi" Daniel replied curtly, pointing at a large mountain-like formation on the map.

"Um…translation please?" Danny said very confused.

"He asked whether or not we would have to cover this sector" he replied tapping a section on the map, causing it to zoom in.

"When exactly do you learn his language?" Sam asked with a furrowed brow. "You never paid any attention in Spanish class." Daniel chuckled lightly.

"Yes well, never really had anyone who spoke Spanish to talk to, and Wulf is far more interesting anyway". Wulf turned at the sound of his name. "Dianos" Daniel waved him off.

"How long did that take?" Danny asked skeptically, awed at the complexity of the werewolves language.

"Not as long as you'd think, you see" he paused for a moment. "Never mind, you'll figure it out eventually". Danny opened his mouth to protest, but decided against it. They peered back over at the arguing ghosts, Walker and Skulker yelling at each other, Ember standing their neutrally, and Johny and Kitty making out on the floor.

"Enough!" Skulker finally bellowed, slamming his hand onto the table, causing the hologram to fizzle and spark as his biomechanical hand made contact.

"We are obviously not going to come to a compromise" he turned to the ghostly warden. "Assemble your soldiers and prepare them for combat, you two" he rounded on Kitty and Johny. "Get a room". The two of them glared.

"Fine then, we will" Kitty huffed, taking Johny's hand , leading him out of the room. Skulker looked quite pleased that they were gone. "Daniel" he turned to the middle aged halfa. "Ember and I will assemble the rest of the troops, I need you and the whelp-" Danny huffed indignantly at this. "To scout out this sector so we know it's safe as a deployment spot.

Daniel nodded.

"Right, come on you two" he said to Danny and Sam. The trio floated out of the room and back to the large elevator in the entrance hall. Daniel walked to the edge of the circular elevator and with a flurry of fingers he typed in an access code, and the lift slowly began to rise.

"I'm kind of surprised you took a scouting mission" Sam commented. "It doesn't seem like your style."

"Yeah," Danny agreed. "Your style seems to be getting it, blow the place up, and get out, wait that's my style, or is it the same thing?" Daniel laughed.

"Yes that does sound about right, a lot of our fights have been like that, haven't they? Get in, blow the place to kingdom come and get out by the skin of my teeth, luck always used to be with me" he sighed. "This scouting is necessary, and everyone back at base is either too busy to do it or has the attention span of an insect. Then again they do say the best way to get a job done is to do it yourself". He grinned.

"So what happens to Johny and Kitty in the future?" Sam asked, having not heard Daniel mention their fates before now.

"They still date, nothing past that, probably 'cause Johny can never keep his eyes off other girls" he chuckled at the memory. "And before you ask, no, Walker does not end up with anyone, that'd be creepy" They all laughed as the elevator gave of a click as it reached the top.

**LINEBREAK**

They had not seen it coming, then again how could they? Tucker and Valerie had just been sitting happily together, sharing stories when it happened, and it was not something anyone would expect. The two of them would later be very hard on themselves for not noticing the shield generator slowly decaying before them.

It crumble and fell in upon itself, much of it nothing but dust, the nexus crystals that provided the shield its unique qualities clattered to the floor. Tucker and Valerie got to their feet, and watched in horror as the shield protecting them began to fade, and flickered completely out of existence.

"Oh no" Valerie whispered in horror, sprinting across the room and taking up her gun, Tucker right beside her readying an ecto-pistol.

"Hello my friends"

They spun around to face the control panels, and there, sitting in Tucker's chair was Dan. Valerie reacted instantly with the keen reflexes of a ghost hunter, sending a storm of bolts directly at the demon king. It was to her horror that her shots had absolutely no effect, and bounced of his pale greenish skin.

"Tucker, old pal" he said to the techno geek in what could be considered a casual tone. "You finally got a girlfriend, I always thought with all the girls who've rejected you you'd never get one, well done buddy".

"What do you want?" Valerie hissed, tucker remaining silent by her side. Dan gave off an awful laugh before replying in a neutral and diplomatic manner.

"If you think I'm here to kill you, you're wrong. Well, I'm not going to kill you now, you see, I need a little insurance." He snapped his fingers and a small cluster of dark colored static, well, it looked like static, issued from his hand. It wrapped itself around the Fentons, Mansons and Foley's, binding their still unconscious forms.

Valerie clicked a button on her wrist and a green glowing blade erupted from her gauntlet. She lunged forward at top speed, carefully aiming at the joints between the plates of his armor. It was a direct hit, and a trickle of black blood trickled from it. Dan instantly grabbed her neck, ripping her away from his torso. Valerie screamed, and watched as the tiny wound sealed itself up, and the blood dried in a second.

"Good shot" Dan congratulated her. "But did you really think you'd be able to defeat me with this?" he asked, breaking her hidden blade within his fingers. "Well, I'm on something of a tight schedule, so let us be going". The room became dark, and tucker and Valerie shrieked as they too were wrapped in a dark energy field.

The room flashed, and before you could blink it was gone. At first neither of them could see anything, but they could feel that it was hot, and they could hear the crackling of flames.

"Where are we?" Tucker spoke into the nothingness.

"Funny you should ask that" Dan said smoothly. Their vision returned , and they gasped at what they saw before them. They were no in a large throne room, with a large throne of bones at the end of it. The walls were blood red, and they could already see the unconscious Fentons, Mansons, and Foleys being dragged away by large reptilian creatures.

"Welcome to hell my friends" Dan said spreading his arms wide, beholding his unholy kingdom. "I hope you enjoy your stay."

"Why kidnap us?" Valerie spat, her voice full of venom, though she could not hide the fear from her voice. "You know that never works".

"Yeah" Tucker agreed, voice shaking. "We've been kidnapped a thousand times, Danny always gets us out of it!" Dan laughed mirthfully as he paced before them, his forked tongue twisting in his mouth like a snake.

"You have quite the faith in my young self, and yes, I admit kidnapping the loved ones of the enemy is cliché, but feelings and attachment have always been Danny's weakness, no matter what time he's in" He signaled to demonic guard along the wall, who grunted as they dragged the two of them away.

"Don't worry," Dan called after them. "The people in your little cave are safe for now; I have too much to do to enjoy the slaughter". He watched them go, and smirked to himself as he raised the time staff, preparing for the main event.

**LINEBREAK**

The halfa trio floated through the wild of the ghost zone, through places neither Danny nor Sam had ever seen. They passed through a spectral jungle filled with ghost animals and flora, which Sam found very interesting.

"I never realized how big the ghost zone is" Danny said in awe as they exited the jungle sector.

"It doesn't really ever end" Daniel commented without looking back. "It's constantly expanding, and with every knew ghost comes a new ghost's lair, I'm surprised they don't run out of space to put all the doorways."

"But I thought you said that the entrances to heaven and hell were at the two opposite ends of the ghost zone" said Sam.

"I did," Daniel agreed. "But you have to understand the zone is not a perfect circle, it's an irregular shape. The entrances are at the two original ends of the ghost zone, but over the millennia the zone has expanded around it".

"Oh" Danny and Sam said in understanding, although they do wish that the ghost zone weren't so complicated.

"I never knew there was a mountain sector" Danny commented. "We've never been there before".

"Yeah, it does seem odd to have mountains where everything floats huh?" Daniel said. "But there they are". He pointed, and through the greenish mist they could see a range of floating mountains off in the distance.

"Why does Skulker want you to scout out here? Why would he want to deploy an army here?" Sam asked in confusion.

"Because the mountains would provide cover, we could covertly set up operations there" Daniel replied. Suddenly there was a great hissing sound. The three of them turned in midair to see a black skull form out of nothing. Then out of it stepped Dan, surrounded by at least a dozen demons. Daniel drew his sword, but he instantly froze, only his head was able to move.

"What the-" he blurt, looking to Danny and Sam who looked just as if not more confused than he was.

"It's funny the things you can do with the proper tools" Dan said, holding the staff up triumphantly. Daniels eyes grew wide in horror, as did his companions.

"H-how?" he stammered out in disbelief, still frozen in mid charge. "Y-you couldn't possibly have-"

"Defeated Clockwork?" Dan smirked. "No, the observants took it from him, thinking he ignored his responsibilities. It was quite easy to take it from them, they think so high of themselves and yet they are so weak".

"If you have that why do you need your lackeys?" Daniel hissed angrily.

"Well," Dan sighed. "You see it is impossible for anyone other than Clockwork himself to access the full power of the staff, I can do incredible things with it, but I cannot truly alter time". He smiled his fanged smile.

"However I do not need to alter the true timeline, I just need to get you out of the way". Danny and Sam dove at him as he raised the staff using all of his power, but they too froze in mid air. Crystal seemed to begin to form around Daniel, translucent and glassy. It completely and enclosed him, and began to shrink smaller and smaller, until with a pop, it disappeared.

"No!" Danny and Sam yelled in vain. Dan sank to his knees in exhaustion, completely spent. He managed to grin evilly at them.

"Don't worry, he isn't dead, even I am not powerful enough to destroy him completely. I just put him in a cage, a cage in time that I designed specifically for him. He simply has to traverse a dozen or so alternate scenarios throughout his lifetime, bye bye now".

The demons waved their arms in formation, and a portal appeared above them, pulling them and their king into it. Danny and Sam unfroze, full of shock and horror, what could they do now?


	20. Chapter 20

**This update is coming a little sooner than I originally intended, I know I left you guys with a bit of a cliffhanger last time, which will be resolved in this chapter. Just in case you guys didn't understand what happened at the end of last chapter, I'm going to explain. Because Dan was not strong enough o actually 'kill' Daniel, he used the staff of time to trap him in a specifically designed set of alternate timelines to function as a sort of prison for our slightly overpowered hero. So, enjoy!**

An expanse of nothingness surrounded Daniel. A blank stretch of existence spread out before him, emptier than the ghost zone. There was no sound, no light or smells; he simply floated there with no effort, not even having to float under his own power.

In all his years, the veteran hero had never seen anything like this. Which when you thought about it, he had seen almost everything, considering how numerous and diverse his enemies were. But then a diamond shaped hole in the dimension ripped itself open, revealing Dan, seated on his throne behind a glassy film. He was panting, and was slouched low in his chair.

"Dan!" Daniel bellowed, forcing himself to float level to Dan's window. "What the hell did you do to me?!" Dan chuckled hoarsely, still running particularly low on energy.

"It's quite amazing, isn't it? What I can do even without full control of time." He took a breath, repositioning the staff so that it leaned onto the arm of his throne. "I couldn't simply put you in a regular cage and let you rot, what fun would there be in that?" he snickered like a school boy.

"This is my ultimate creation, a box, a box of time for you to play in. I have wandered throughout your timeline, but now welcome to mine". He waved the staff, and the window evaporated.

Then matter began to materialize out of nothing. Daniel felt solid ground formed under his feet, and he could see structures building themselves on both sides of him. A city was growing around him, and he recognized several landmarks from his own timeline, Casper High, Fenton Works, and the park in the center of town.

But what was different was that there was a moderately sized building with a large red sign that read 'Nasty Burger 2'. Hovering cars filled the airways, the city was a perfect picture of a science fiction novel.

This was similar to his own timeline, in which Amity Park was a futuristic metropolis, but the major difference was that a large blue bubble shaped shield could be seen high above, surrounding the city. Daniel now stood at the edge of a perfectly clean alleyway, with a silver titanium dumpster behind him, cleaning itself.

"Welcome to my world, Daniel" Dan whispered into his mind. "Have fun, there's a young me running around somewhere in this time, have fun". Daniels anger surged as Dan laughed like a madman within his head, before it slowly faded.

Suddenly a loud beeping rang in his ears. He spun around to see a large camera mounted to the alley wall. It had a red light, and was focused directly on him.

"Ectoplasm detected" it said in a robotic voice.

"Oh crap" Daniel swore, instantly reverting to his human form for the first time in a year. The camera seemingly lost interest, because it's red light died down and it looked away, scanning the rest of the alley. He examined himself all over; he had forgotten what clothing he was wearing, having been in ghost mode for so long.

He wore a black buttoned down shirt with a white undershirt. He wore loose fitting jeans and a gold watch on his wrist. He examined his hands, and fingered the simple golden band that was his wedding ring. Emotions filled him with nostalgia as he examined it; why was fate so cruel to him?

He cautiously stepped out of the alley, peering down the sidewalk on either side. It was early morning, and no one was out walking at a time like this. The only people around were early commuters rushing to work in their cars.

Daniel exited the alley, trying his best to act casual and not draw attention to himself, like than ever works. He knew that he would not be recognized in this time period, as the Danny from this timeline was thought to have been killed a decade ago, as his secret was never revealed in this reality.

He had absolutely no idea what to do. He was trapped; Danny and Sam were on their own now, completely at the mercy of Dan's plans. He could not go to Clockwork, because Clockwork was timeless. His thoughts drifted to going to clockworks tower, in the hope of finding Dan their even in this reality. But Dan was not stupid, he wouldn't leave himself open to attack, the tower would most likely be empty.

Then he heard the low rumble of engine, and he craned his neck upward. It was Valerie riding her jet sled like a board. She wore no mask, and had an army style haircut. It was the original suit and sled that she used, as in this time she had never received the new one. She landed on top of a large silver tower at the edge of the city. Just by looking at Daniel could tell that it supported the shield around the city.

Normally he would change into ghost form and follow her, but if he were to change, Valerie would be alerted to his presence, and he didn't want to fight her in any timeline. He found himself sprinting down the street towards the base of the tower. He heard yelling up above, panic was clear in Valerie's voice, but due to the distance it was indistinguishable.

Then the whole city began to shake, as a clearly recognizable wail filled the air.

"Oh no" Daniel gasped as the shield towers around the city one at a time shattered to pieces. Screaming and loud sirens filled the air as people flooded from their homes. Large dome like structures raised out of the ground as people fled into the underground safe haven built around the sewer system.

A massive purple sphere flew out of nowhere, slamming Valerie down to the street directly in front of the Nasty Burger 2. Daniel sprung into action immediately, sprinting towards the restaurant, arriving just in time to see the Fright Knight floating above her.

"You! She cried out, the Knight chuckling ominously as a purple aura engulfed him.

"Yes, me, and I serve a new master now!" Valerie sprang to her feet as the Knight charge another ecto blast, but in a blur that neither the huntress nor the spirit of Halloween could process, the knight was flung to the ground, forming a crate, dust billowing from it.

"What the heck!" Valerie exclaimed in confusion, drawing her weapon and summoning her glider with the press of a button on her watch. The dust cleared, and between her and the injured Knight stood Daniel, in ghost form, sword resting on his shoulder.

Valerie watched as Daniel walked to the edge of the crater, looking down at the Fright Knight.

"Those who serve Dan will be destroyed" he proclaimed to the crumpled warrior. He raised his sword, which began to glow blue as he pointed towards his foe. There was a massive explosion as a beam of pure energy erupted from the blades tip. The Knight shrieked in agony as he was reduced to nothing, completely destroyed.

Valerie gaped at the man before her. Had he truly just destroyed the Fright Knight with so little effort? But then she realized his eyes were green and glowing, and he floated several inches off the ground. Her eyes narrowed, this was a ghost, and therefore must be destroyed. She lunged forward, deploying a blade from her gauntlets, attempting to stab Daniel in the back.

He moved faster than she could see, grabbing her wrists and breaking off her blade.

"Get off me, ghost!" she yelled as she used all her strength to try and free herself, to no avail.

"Please Valerie" Daniel pleaded. "You have to trust me".

**LINEBREAK YEAH, ITS A LINEBREAK**

It was with heavy hearts that Danny and Sam flew back to the resistance headquarters. They had failed Daniel, and now he was gone. They approached the large skull like entrance and silently descended into the desert sand.

When they reached the bottom of the lift and the door clicked open to reveal a much emptier entrance hall than the one they had initially been introduced to. The hall was nearly empty, except for a few straggling ghosts who were slinging equipment over their shoulders, running towards the barracks.

Sam dried a few spare tears from her cheeks, it wasn't like her to cry, but their only hope had been all but destroyed. Danny's face was full of both anger and grief. It had seemed that they were on the road to winning this fight, but then Dan had appeared wielding the one true omnipotent power in the universe; time.

They approached the control room, and with great hesitation, they entered. Skulker, Ember, Walker, Wulf, and Technus, who stood in the center of the room meticulously examining Vlad who floated in a regeneration tank, all stood around the holographic map, seeming to have come to some sort of compromise.

"Ah" Skulker said with a grin as he saw them enter. "You're back excellent, was the sector clear?" Then he noticed, that only two of the trio had returned, his flaming eyebrows furrowed. "Where is Daniel"

Danny and Sam exchanged a painful look, before Sam said bitterly.

"Dan took him". Everyone looked around the table looked at the pair with confusion and shock.

"Took him" Walker sneered. "What do you mean, 'took him'?"

"He has Clockwork's staff" Danny spat angrily. "Daniels's been trapped in some alternate dimension where we can't reach him, Dan knew he was the best of us, so he trapped him". All jaws hung open. Daniel was the bravest and the most powerful among them, without him, they lost half of their fighting force.

There was a loud hissing noise as steam began to gush from the sides of the regeneration tank. They all spun around to see Vlad writhing within the tank, wires breaking off from him and the glass surrounding him began to crack.

"He's ready!" Technus yelled as he got out of the way. The glass shattered and greenish yellow fluid poured from the tank. Vlad stumbled out, ripping the respirator mask roughly from his face. he opened his eyes, which now glowed a bright green, as the rest of his body gave off a ghostly aura. Technus came forward and wrapped a robe around him, as he was only garbed in boxers.

"Not to be a buzz-kill or anything" Vlad began in his trademark charismatic tone. "But where the hell am I".

"The headquarters of the resistance" Skulker answered. "You were killed in a battle with Dan, you are now one-hundred percent ghost".

"Oh" Vlad said, scratching the back of his head, completely unfazed. "Wait", he said, panic suddenly spreading across his features. "Where's Dani?"

"We don't know" Danny answered sadly. Vlad shook his head in self disgust.

"I was a fool for sending her off, thinking I could hold him myself". He remained silent for a moment, before whipping his head back to face Danny. "I sent her with a scroll that from the library, it's what Daniel was looking for."

"What is it?" Sam asked, her curiosity peaking.

"We found a book entitled 'tome of prophetic blood'. When I used a drop of my own blood it formed a passage, a prophecy". They all remained silent for a moment.

"What was the prophecy?" Danny asked.

"It was…." Vlad trailed off, running his temple furiously. "I- I can't remember, I just cant find the words" Danny slapped his palm to his face in frustration.

"But I do remember roughly what it described" Vlad began again. "It describes the fate of the three of you, Danny, Dan, and Daniel, and how this battle will end".

"But how does that help us now?" Danny asked angrily, arms crossed. "It doesn't help us if we don't know what it is!"

"We fight" Skulker cut in. All head turned to face the hunter. "If Daniel were here I doubt he'd want us to be groveling in self pity and sorrow, he'd want us to fight".

"He's right" Sam put in, placing a hand on her boyfriends shoulder. "If we don't fight, then _all_ hope would be gone". Danny looked into her eyes, and saw the truth in her words. He nodded.

"Ok then, let's get started".


	21. Chapter 21

**Ok, I've gone back and edited past chapters so that they all have line breaks. I've tried to put lines and symbols, but the only thing that shows on the actual site, it LINEBREAK. Now I know I left it at a cliffhanger last time, but that's my style. So, congratulations, you've allowed me to waste your time for the last couple months, so I've decided to take some more of your time and continue.**

**LINEBREAK**

"Valerie" Daniel said stonily. "I need you to trust me"

The huntress stared dumfounded at the ghost that held her wrists, her mouth open in shock, her eyes giving a fierce glare. Did a ghost, the very thing she despised most, just ask her to trust him? Were there ghost drugs she didn't know about?

"Why the hell should I trust you? Ghost scum!" she hissed, twisting and flailing her arms in a vain attempt to break free.

"All the ghosts you've met may be scum, but I'm different". Valerie nearly snorted with contempt. Ghosts were all the same, evil.

"Yeah right, you're a ghost, therefore you're evil". Daniel sighed, it would be hard to break her of her set in stone belief that all things ghostly were pure evil and malevolent.

"I'm not evil Valerie, I'm far from it, hell I'm not even a ghost". He released her wrists and quickly shoved her forward several meters, and with a flash he assumed his human form. "I'm a halfa". The huntress' jaw literally fell to the floor when she a perfectly normal looking person staring back at her.

"So not only are you a ghost, but you've also overshadowed someone, that's supposed to make me trust you?" She clicked a button on her belt and an oversized bazooka folded out of it and strapped itself to her arm. She aimed it directly at Daniels face. "I'm going to count to three, and you better get out of that man, or we'll see just how much longer your afterlife will last".

"I'm not possessing anyone, I am man and ghost at the same time" he paused for a moment. "Take a close look at me Valerie, who do I remind you of? Look back a decade and tell me." Valerie didn't lower her weapon, however she used the built in scope to focus in closely on her target. However unnecessary she deemed it, Valerie examined the features of the 'halfa' in front of her.

Jet black hair, baby blue eyes, a handsome face and an aura of tension, these are the things she took note of as she looked him over. She literally dropped her gun when the name came to her mind.

"D-Danny?" she asked slowly, her voice dark and low. Daniel smiled warmly at her.

"It's good to know you haven't forgotten my face Val".

"B-but how?" she stuttered, taking a hesitant step towards him. "You were killed years ago; they say you were Phantoms first victim". Daniel looked at her for a moment, before flicking his wrist towards the blaring siren that sat upon a large steel telephone pole, causing it to explode in a bright green light.

Valerie jumped. How the hell could this be Danny? She thought to herself. He was no ghost!

"Walk with me Val, I'll explain when we get there" he turned on his heel, and before Valerie could object, he was walking down the street at fast pace. She ran after him, until she was level with him, jogging to keep up with his significantly longer stride.

It wasn't long before Fenton Works was no more than a hundred yards away.

"Why are you taking me here?" Valerie demanded, wondering if she should just kill him, after all, he was a ghost in at least some form. But she reconsidered, Daniel was clearly faster than her, and even she couldn't break his grip. On top of that he destroyed the Fright Knight with literally no effort. So attacking him would be suicide.

"You live here in this time, don't you?" Daniel asked.

"This time?" Valerie questioned, what the heck was that supposed to mean?

Without warning the building imploded, the op center tumbling down, cracks forming from the foundation all the way to the buildings peak.

"Dad!" Valerie screamed in horror. In one clean motion Daniel took her by the elbow, entered his ghost form, and dove into the ground, phasing their way down to the basement. A rush of nostalgia hit Daniel when they landed in the nearly completely destroyed laboratory.

He hadn't been here since before Dan's attack, and an uncountable number of memories of this old room flooded into his mind, filling his heart. This had been where it had all began, where he had been blessed with the incredible power to protect, and after that day, he had been Amity's sworn guardian. In a nutshell, it was the most important day in his life.

The lab was in ruins, bits of the ceiling had collapsed, spreading a thick layer of dust in all directions. Instruments were strewn all over the place, and loose wires crackled with electricity where they had been ripped from their sockets. The floors were cracked, splitting the room nearly in half.

The Fenton portal was open, green light pouring from it like transparent green flames that licked at the air. In the back of the room lay Damon Grey, a bloody wound on his left leg, and above him stood Dan, just as Daniel remembered him from the first time they ever met. He wore no armor, the hazmat full exposed, DP emblem on the chest, and his hair was aflame.

"Why hello Valerie" Dan smirked as he lifted Damon up by his torn bloody shirt, peering over his shoulder, a fanged smirk gracing his lips. A slightly confused but no less confident look appeared on his face when he noticed Daniel. "And who the hell are you supposed to be, Iron man?" he asked, mocking the cybernetic armor that covered Daniels body.

"No" Daniel replied darkly as he shoved Valerie behind him, drawing the sword of unity. "I'm the dude with the oversized sword who lops the heads off of people like you".

"Oh, really?" Dan smirked, flinging Damon to his side, causing him to collide with the wall.

"Dad!" Valerie ran to his side, turning over rubble in her way, holding his aged head in her hazmat covered lap.

"Well," Dan began, stepping toward his new foe. "I'm never one to pass up a challenge. But let me ask you, have you seen the world outside this city? It's nothing more than a desert, a wasteland. You actually think _you _stand a chance against me?" He laughed madly at the ridiculous notion of defeat.

"You really are arrogant. You don't even know who I am and you already boast of your victory? You know raw power can only go so far". Dan laughed sadistically.

"Why shouldn't I boast of the inevitable? You're nothing compared to me, hell, you look like one of Aragon's knights who got stuck working for Technus. What's with the armor anyway? Scared to fight unprotected?"

"I'm nothing eh? Didn't you notice the puddle of goo that used to be the Fright Knight?"

"So what" Dan waved it off easily. "He was too full of himself for his own good, I can find other servants".

"As for me" Daniel said as the greenish glow that outlined and came from within his form burned brighter, shining through the plates of his armor. "I am Daniel Phantom".

As if it were a rehearsed scene in a play, the two of them rocketed upwards, phasing through the ceiling, taking to the open sky. Dan got in close, attacking with a quick succession of punches, which Daniel easily blocked with the side of his swords blade.

"Daniel Phantom?" Dan question when they momentarily broke apart, circling each other like hawks in midair. "So you're another cheap imitation of me, going out trying to be the big hero? You remind me of my fat oaf of a father."

"Jack Fenton is not your father" Daniel said darkly, gloved hands tightening on the sword. "You are simply the ectoplasmic half of Danny Phantom, you are not derived from his soul, you have his memories, but you don't have what counts".

"My, my, you certainly are well informed" Dan drawled, not really interested. "No matter, whatever you are you die now". A massive green blast issued from Dan's hand, but Daniel batted it away with the back of the hand that held his sword.

Daniel darted forward, left hand charged with energy, but Dan was quick, forming a shield in front of him. The shield shattered and Dan plummeted downward into a large skyscraper, causing the entire building to collapse on top of him. One might think this would destroy him, but Daniel knew better.

Within half a minute the wreckage exploded, Dan hurtling out of it, several places on hazmat were town, where green blood shined.

"I have to admit I didn't expect that, I underestimated you, but I will not make that mistake again." He smirked. "Do you know how I broke through the ghost shield?" Before Daniel could give the quite obvious reply Dan took a deep breath, and when he opened his mouth the legendary ghostly wail exited it.

But Daniel expected this, and let his lips rip apart in a great roar. The two sonic waves collided, the sound shattering every window in the city that wasn't already broken. Dan watched and listened in horror as his wail began to falter, and grow fainter and fainter, before it was overwhelmed completely.

"No!" Dan shrieked as Daniel slowly moved closer, his roar not faltering in the slightest. And with a great eruption of energy and ectoplasm, the Dan of this artificial timeline disintegrated to noting, the power of the roar ripping him apart molecule by molecule. Wouldn't Jack be proud!

Daniel slowly descended to the ground, panting heavily, landing on the sidewalk in front of Fenton Works, where Valerie stood, her mouth hanging open, complete and utter disbelief in her eyes.

"What-who are you?" she nearly whispered.

"What a silly question Valerie" a cool voice boomed throughout the world, as if it were coming from everywhere at once.

"Dan!" Daniel screamed to the sky with venomously, rage radiating from every pore of his existence. "You have seen your fate! This is what will happen to you, I swear on my soul!" Dan simply chuckled from his omnipotent place of power in his own created world.

"Yes, your soul, the utterly useless possession that you endlessly claim is the most important thing in this universe" he sighed. "No matter though, I congratulate you, you have passed the first of many trials my gauntlet holds for you".

"Wha-!" Daniel stammered as the whole world around him dissolved, leaving him once again in a black white plane of nothingness.

"Hmmm" Dan murmured. "Where should I send you next? So many options and so little….." he trailed off for a moment. "Strike that, I have all the time in the world. Ohh! Now that's an idea". Daniel didn't speak as the devils voice faded, and the plane of nothingness began to swirl around him, taking on the form of another timeline of Dan's sick creation.

He was in the city again, but it was nothing like he'd ever seen it during any timeline. The whole of the city was covered in green, vines covering every surface, with sickly looking flowers spewing purple vapor from their oversized petals.

Off in the distance were tower-like trees that were covered in spiky writhing ivy that seemed to have a mind of its own. Daniel floated just above where Main Street used to be, looking around in horror.

"Welcome to a time where Undergrowth was never defeated, and the world became his twisted garden, where the people of the world were nothing more than fertilizer for his 'children'. And don't you remember, who his queen is?" Daniel gasped.

"No…." Suddenly a great creaking noise filled his ears. The halfa whipped around to see the vines below move apart, and a gargantuan purple flower rose from the ground. The petals folded open, and out of it came a women of great beauty, who seemed to wear a gown of flowers, with thorns for trimming, and a crown of black roses.

"Hello….welcome to the growth" she said in a light seductive voice.

"Sam……." Daniel whispered, aghast with sadness hatred and horror.

**Yes I know only showed Daniel for this chapter, but I have a lot planned for him! If you couldn't guess Dan is trying to torture him as much as possible. If you think the Dan of the new timeline was destroyed too easily, let me explain. **

**Dan got a huge power boost in between the time he was capture in the thermos and when he attacked Daniels family, and then got another power boost from killing the devil. So Daniel is many time stronger than the Dan of this time, so it was a relatively easy fight for him.**


	22. Chapter 22

**Ok, I met to get this up yesterday, but since I'm on vacation, it's been hard to find the time to write this next chapter. Now, I'm not going to focus on just Daniel this time, I'll look at what's going on with Danny and Sam, Danni, and Frostbite, etc, etc.**

**LINEBREAK**

Danni sighed; her relatively short lifespan was not turning out how she had expected it too. It wasn't that everything in her artificial life had been awful, most of it was, but there were parts of it that made her feel as if she were a normal girl, born in a normal way.

She had started life as the cloned daughter of Vladimir Masters, who supposedly wanted her to capture the boy from which he DNA came from in order to save her. But who would have guessed her creator was a massive prick, and wanted her to capture the boy in order to stabilize a cloned son, which would be followed by forcibly breaking her body apart.

Thankfully she had seen the truth behind her creator's intentions, and had set out on her own for a time, taking her own brand of good to the streets of the world. But once the disasteroid incident had occurred, she had rushed to aid Danny and the rest of the ghosts to turn the world intangible.

What happened next would be remembered as the greatest moment of her life, Danny had welcomed her into his family with open arms, she had begun to make friends and have the closest thing to a normal life she could ever hope to have. But it wouldn't last long. What's the fun in that?

Of course Danny's alternate future had to show up and plunge both worlds into a war for the very fabric of reality. And now Danni on a floating rock which Frostbite and his yetis had turned into a floating iceberg so it would be pleasantly livable for them. She watched bored out of her mind from the sidelines as they froze food over ice flames to prepare it for eating.

She found this a little pointless because it wasn't a necessity that ghosts eat and that as long as she was in her ghost form she wouldn't need to either. All she really wanted to do was to get back to Danny and Daniel, they didn't underestimate her abilities.

However recent readings from the DNA tracker had shown all three identical signatures meet, before one of them parted, and another disappeared completely. This had worried all of them, because the tracker could not show whether or not one of them had been destroyed, or for that matter which one.

She was trying to keep her mind open at this point, reasoning that Daniel and Dan were more or less evenly matched, so it was improbable that either of them had been destroyed. And Danny couldn't have been killed, because if that were to happen Daniel would have faded as well, leaving only Dan. And if that were to happen, well, they were pretty much fucked.

So now she and the yetis had stopped to rest, which was also kind of pointless because ghosts required little to no rest at all. Another thing that itched at the curiosity center of her brain was the prophecy. Frostbite just didn't want seem to want to elaborate upon it, and it was beginning to piss her off.

What could possibly be so bad about her knowing it? It was supposed to determined the outcome of this war, and tell the fate of Danny, Dan and, Daniel. As the clone/adoptive sister of Danny and Daniel wasn't she entitled to know something? Or would she always just be the 'sibling of the great one'. Sure, she hadn't accomplished that much, but then again she was technically only a year and a half old, no one can do much in that time.

"Please join us, young one" Frostbite called to her from around the small icy campfire, Danni groaned. This was really what she wanted to be doing, sitting around with a bunch of overgrown icicles with arms and legs instead of getting out there and kicking major ass. She floated away from where she sat with her back against a large ice covered stalagmite, and moved over to join her yet travelling companions.

She sat to the right of frostbite, who had stripped himself of his armor and weapon, making him no longer appear the size of a semi-truck, but the size of a small tank. Any other girl would be scared out of her mind just looking at the icy ghosts, let alone sitting amongst them.

But Danni could tell from the beginning that looks weren't everything, and the simple fact that they looked like vicious other worldly barbarians couldn't shield the fact that on the inside they were a bunch of softies. Very strong and combat oriented softies, but softies nonetheless.

"So, young one" Frostbite started again, Danni inwardly groaning at being called 'young one' instead of a cool title, or at least her name! "I have heard a little from your elder brother, but not everything. Would you mind telling us how it was you came to be created?" Danni was genuinely surprised as this was the first time they had shown any interest in her, and not her famous brother.

So Danni told them her relatively short life story, consisting of a little less than two years. Several of the yeti scientists awed at the fact that she was able to survive, cloning was one of the most elaborate and difficult branch of science, and being able to create a clone that was able to function and think like a regular being, was incredible.

"Ok" Danni said crossing her arms, putting on a determined face that matched Danny's. "I've answered your question, so now please, answer mine. I think you know what I mean". Frostbite stared at her for a moment, weighing the consequences.

"I fear that if I were to tell you, you would attempt to stop it in your own way, and if it is anything like that of the great ones, it is rash and not thought out." Danni was fuming as she slammed her fist into the ground angrily.

"It that it?" she demanded, glaring straight upward into the yeti kings face. "Or is it that I'm not my brother, that you don't think I'm good enough?!" she shrieked. Several of the yetis backed away, angering a girl in the early stages of puberty that also had supernatural powers wasn't the best of ideas.

Frostbite remained calm, perfectly hiding the twinge of fear that had travelled up his glacier-like spine.

"No, that isn't it" Frostbite replied, speaking in a soft kind voice in an attempt to keep her from being angry. "And I apologize if we have treated you like some sort of weaker version of your brother, I assure you that was not our intention." Danni mumbled something 'yeah right'.

"But I believe that if either you or Danny were to hear what the prophecy speaks of you would act rashly. That is why I wish to speak to Daniel".

"Ok" Danni hissed quietly, somewhat seeing his point. "But I'm a clone of Daniel as well, yet you trust him with the knowledge and not me?"

"Yes" Frostbite replied. "Don't get me wrong" he added after seeing the rage filled look in Danni's face. "It isn't that you aren't competent. It's just that Daniel has lived more than two decade longer than Danny has, and thirty eight more than you. I simply believe that he has the maturity to handle the situation."

Danni calmed down quite a bit, at least it wasn't what she didn't have, it was what Daniel _did _have that merited Frostbites undying trust in him.

"That" she heard one of the yeti's across from her whisper to the yeti beside him. "And she's weak as hell". Danni exploded, quite literally. The ice covering the rock they floated upon melted near instantly and the yetis fled high into the air. Danni looked around, and saw that fire burned around her, and that flames were snaked around her arms and legs.

She grinned gleefully.

"Oh yeah, this is going to be fun" she said as she lit a fireball in her hand.

**LINEBREAK**

Now try and put yourself in Daniels shoes and imagine what this situation must feel like. He had watched his family slaughtered, had gained a ridiculous amount of power that he didn't want, but needed, and had been forced by fate to travel back in time.

And of course things can't go as planned, that would be way too easy. It was silly to think for a minute that Dan _wouldn't _follow him to the past, and even sillier to think that he wouldn't go to the most astronomical lengths to gain power and ultimately become something resembling a god on the scale of power.

He was a sick, twisted, evil, malevolent god, but a being of god like potential none the less. It was also typical that once things seemed to be getting better, when the armies of the resistance were assembling and Danny had gained a large amount of power through his ghostly obsession, that Dan sprung the ultimate trap right in Daniels face.

Being locked in a prison or a cage was one thing, Daniel had broken out of those many time before, but Dan had used the ultimate prison, time and memory. So now Daniel stood with a twisted version of his wife, staring down venomously at him with the intent to kill anything that would harm the 'children' of this timelines repulsive kingdom.

"Hello" the queen of Flora who Daniel loved repeated with the same terrifying smile upon her beautiful yet twisted features. "Welcome to the growth, it isn't very often that a ghost enters my garden anymore, they stay in the ghost zone and cower in fear."

The flower she laid in detached itself from its three hundred foot tall stem and floated closer to Daniel, would understandably floated a few feet back in the air. Sam's gaze was fixed upon him with the utmost interest, almost recognizing him for who he truly was.

"But since this is such a rare and unexpected situation" she began again. "So I will offer you the ultimate reward" vines danced in her hands and her already pure green eyes flashed as she said it. "Will you join the growth?"

Daniel felt a sense of déjà vu hit him when she said this, many years ago he had been given the same offer, had refused it, then had been forced to retreat to the ghost zone because his awakening ice powers made it impossible to fight, literally freezing him.

"Um, no thanks" he replied shakily, nervously scratching the back of his neck. Sam's face instantly look both amused, and gleeful.

"You remind me of someone from a long time ago, he too denied the growth. It took a little convincing, but….." She waved her hand to her side, and in front of her rose a flowerless plant, with nothing but a pale green pod atop the stem. "He came around eventually."

Daniel guessed what would happen, but it was still shocking to see it actually happen. He watched as the pod cracked itself open, strangely colored gas escaping from within, and out of it raised _him_. In the pod stood a man who looked to be in his early to mid twenties. He had stark white hair, and wore nothing apart from a pair of leafy shorts.

Vines were wrapped around him, and many seemed to converge into his skin, forming greenish veins all over his arms and chest. Daniel knew immediately, that this was him, who he would have been had he not defeated undergrowth and had never saved Sam from her brainwashed state.

"I'd like you to meet my prince," the flora queen said with a poisonously sweet tone. "Finish him will you darling?" The plant controlled Danny gave nothing but a curt nod, before launching himself at Daniel.

**LINEBREAK**

Danny had quickly taken the helm of the resistance, showing a level of leadership that not even Sam knew he had. The forces had been called back to base, and they had quickly disassembled themselves. They needed to make new battle plans, as Dan had seen them trying to set up a rendezvous point in the mountain sector.

Vlad had slowly started his road to recovery, and although he was a full ghost now, he still required many hours of rest. He was only awake ever few hours, and when he was he helped to come up with new tactics.

Sam began to practice with her powers, now able to fly unassisted, and was now becoming quite a vicious combatant being able to cur a dozen targets in half at once with her vines; even Skulker wouldn't _purposefully _mess with her.

Technus had worked to develop a suit of armor for Danny, similar to that of Daniels, except that he only wore the torso and shoulder plates, as the whole suit was far more than he could carry.

Danny had tried out using a sword, and although he found it difficult, he was learning to use it quite well. And now, the little time that he had left over for the last several days was spent with Sam, either talking, or making out in the nearest corner, causing Ember to tease them relentlessly.

Although they were building up, and Danny was more powerful than he had ever been before, he was still at a loss for what to do. Should they attack? Show they wait to be attacked? Even Daniel could not beat Dan, and even with his new power, comparing Danny to Daniel would be like comparing a butterfly to a dragon.

"Perhaps we should wait for Daniel to return?" Skulker suggested as he Danny, Sam, Ember, and Technus sat around a large round table.

"We don't know how long that could take, or if it will happen at all" Danny said shaking his head miserably, if he could, he would wait for Daniel.

"Oh he'll find a way out eventually" Ember insisted. "Trust me if you can get out of all the shitty situations you've been in, so can he".

But that doesn't solve anything…." Danny said. "Even all of together don't have a change against Dan, let alone him _and _his armies, that and the fright Knight."

"Maybe we should simply stay put" Technus suggested, having dropped his usual goofy behavior given the situation. "Maybe we should simply prepare ourselves for battle until a decent scenario presents itself." Danny thought about it for a moment, damn he was tired.

"Ok" he finally said. "I'm too tired to think of anything else right now, if you need me, I'll be in bed". He took Sam's hand and exited the room.

"You okay?" Sam asked softly as they approached their chambers, which were directly adjacent to each other.

"I don't know" Danny said shaking his head. "I can't help but thinking that if I screw up, if we lose, it'll be all my fault and I'd have sent everyone here to their death".

"One" Sam began. "They're already dead. Two, most of them may be your enemies, but they trust you, you've also handed their asses to them every time they mess with your or our town. And three, please stop being such a noble idiot". Danny gave her a weak and exhausted smile.

"I'll try". They fell into a passionate kiss, before parting into their respective chambers.

**Well, I'm going to try and update a lot sooner next time, which may be hard because the day after I get back from vacation I go back to school. Sorry if I left it at another cliffy, but yes! Danni's fire powers have awakened due to the heightened stress of an apocalyptic war! Happy reading!**


	23. Chapter 23

**Good god, I'm writing this at five in morning! I can't sleep, so I figured I'd write something for you good people to waste their time with, I'd like to thank all my reviewers, several of which have been with me from the beginning. Updates may get slower, as school is about to start (damn!). Well, here's the next installment of the increasingly complicated "Danny, Dan, and Daniel" (go Daniel!)**

**LINEBREAK**

When you thought about it, it did seem pretty surprising that a being seemingly held up by vines could move at such incredible speed. Then again, they were supernatural vines. And of course the vines spikes were pointed forward, just to add a little sting to the already vicious punch.

And it sure didn't help Daniel that his attacker was basically himself in an organic loincloth, which would be a fairly creepy image to any fully grown man. Daniel drew his sword, but he was a fraction of a second too late. Vines wrapped themselves roughly around his armored torso, spreading to his right elbow, preventing him from moving his arm.

The flora Danny's face was completely blank, his eyes nothing but staring spheres of green, his mouth a thin line etched across his face like an impromptu streak of sharpie on paper. Part of Daniel couldn't help but think that this may have been him had he become an emotionless emo like many of the people he had seen at the depressing poetry clubs that Sam had dragged him to.

He would have shuddered at the thought, had the steel like vines not had him in a strangle hold. Daniel wasn't struggling for air like he would be in human form, ghosts didn't need to breath. Instead, the vines were attempting to snap him like a cybernetic twig. Daniel tightened his core muscles, letting a cold rush spread throughout his body, his eyes changing from green to an icy blue.

From Daniels chest plate emerged great icicles, which spread over his torso and onto the vines which held him. The ice traveled up the vines to the flora Danny, creeping on to the supernatural freaks bare chest. Daniel watched as the shiny glass-like ice closed in his enemies face beginning to cover his cheeks. And then he saw the edge of his flora counterpart's mouth twinge the slightest bit upward, forming the tiniest of smirks.

The iced shattered like a million windows as flora Danny soared upward, withdrawing the vines that held Daniel, pulling them into his wrists like Spiderman would do with webs. Daniel floated there, still holding his sword, mouth agape. How hadn't that worked? The plant queen cackled from her flowery resting point, calling flora Danny back with a hand gesture, causing him to kneel by her side within the flower

"Ice?" Sam asked incredulously, laughing like one of the cheesy villains from the comic books. It was ironic how much she resembled Poison Ivy at this point.

"I remember when this one tried that very same trick; it seems he went to that fool Frostbite for help, thinking that a little cold water would be enough to stop the growth". She reached out with her index finger and scratched under the flora Danny's chin like one would do with a dog, Daniel cringed slightly, which was odd considering he was married to a alternate timeline counterpart of the plant controlling queen.

"But he gave in eventually; after all, father can be very persuasive when he wants to be".

Oh crap, Daniel thought to himself. He hadn't thought of Undergrowth himself. He cursed himself silently for being so dumb; he was supposed to be better than this! Did twenty plus years of hero work teach him nothing? There's always someone even worse behind the first enemy! And another behind him!

Daniel cut his train of thought, and began hurling icy spears that he formed instantaneously in his hands. His plant counterpart let loose a flurry of punches, matching each of Daniels's throws. Daniel flew to the right, left hand repeatedly launching jets of ice and ectoplasm. Floranny (which he will now be referred to as) raised his hands, raising a wall before himself and his queen, which absorbed the attack.

Daniel fled down what used to be Main Street, which now resembled a massive open air corridor covered with exotic colors on all sides. Sounds like our beach house, Daniel thought briefly. The street quaked below him as vines began detaching themselves from the street, ripping the decayed pieces of building and black top they clung to, and rising up to grasp him like a millions tongues of some kind of horrible beast.

He bolted upward, trying to avoid the tentacle like plants that reached out for him. A vine fastened itself around his ankle, pulling him downward. He swung his sword wildly, cutting his bonds. But just as it seemed that he was free, a Venus fly trap with a stem the length of a skyscraper, and a pod the size of a monster truck, rose above him, jaws open and dripping with an unknown fluid directly onto his face.

Then the jaws were closed around him, and his world was dark dank and mucky as he swirled around within the mouth of the flower. This wasn't exactly how he pictured his death, being eaten by a flower controlled by his wife, well; technically not his wife but you get the point. Daniel struggled to bring both his hands to the hilt of the sword of unity, which the fly trap seemed determined to rip away from him.

He slowly allowed his arms to be pulled backward above his head, weapon being pulled with them. Then his whole body snapped forward like a bowstring, sword swinging in a great arc over his head. Light flooded to his eyes as the flower pod was cleaved in half. Daniel was hunched over in midair from exhaustion, sword level with his knees.

He felt his weight shift forward unexpectedly, and looked up. On the blade of his sword stood Floranny, with his queen smugly floating behind him. He had his arms folded behind his back, face stony and blank, as if he were trying to look like a 'classy' super mutant freak. Daniel felt a knee connect with his nose, sending his head backwards. But it was quickly caught with in Floranny's palm, and then a fist struck him in the exact same spot.

He clutched his nose as a steady trickle of blood fell from it. His lifted his sword, causing Floranny to leap nimbly off of the blade. Daniel ignored his would, and charged forward. He ignored the queen and her prince, and launched wave after wave of chaotic energy from his blade. He did so as he dove underneath them, carving the green valley of plants that covered the roads and buildings bellow, attempting to do as much damage as possible.

Water spewed into the air like fire hydrants on a hot summer's day as the pipes bellow the ground split and began to regurgitate their contents into the open air. The plants greeted this with mixed response, some gratefully basking in the misty drops that fell upon them, or else shrieking because they had been ripped from the ground by the roots by Daniel's slashes, or else they had something against water.

He carefully turned his head, which was difficult while flying at over three-hundred miles-per-hour, hoping to catch a glimpse of anyone tailing him. No one was there, but suddenly he felt his stomach lurch upward, and his head snapped forward slamming into Floranny's lower back as he lifted him upward.

Daniel strenuously reached out behind him with his free left hand, which also happened to be straight up, forming a shimmering shield above them. His back made contact with it, and Floranny lost his grip on him. He kicked off of the shield with his feet, and dive bombed straight into his enemy, hurtling both of them toward the ground.

As they fell, despite the incredible speed, Daniel raised his sword, and hefted it over his head. The explosion that occurred when they hit the ground could be compare to that of a mini-nuke launched by a six year old with ADD, so it was large, imprecise, and bloody awesome. There was a roar of agony as the sword of unity ripped through the translucent flesh of Floranny. With a great twitch and shudder, he dissipated into nothing.

"_No!"_ the queen shrieked at the fall of her consort, flying towards his killer in a destructive rage. The halfa raised his sword, which was now dripping in ghostly blood, ready to defend him.

"No, young one" a voice boomed, just as Sam was about unleash her full wrath upon him. The earth split below them, and the king of ghostly plants rose from with the planets crust. Sam fell to her knees, bowing her head in respect and reverence for her 'father'.

"I will finish him", Undergrowth said in him booming raspy voice.

"Yes, father" Sam agreed with him instantaneously. Undergrowth raised himself to his full height, which was somewhere between twelve-hundred and fifteen-hundred feet when he had reached such a high level of power.

"I do not know who you are" he said as he towered over him. "But those you threaten my kingdom, will die!"

**LINEBREAK**

Dan chuckled as he watched these events took place, watching them within the confines of his mind, being able to do so only with the time staff in his grasp. The recently thawed Fright knight, who was still struggling to get all of the armor out of his suit of armor, stood before him, commanding groups of demons into formation.

They stood at the gates of the infernal palace as the armies of hell assembled before their king. The unholy spawn were a variety of sizes, from the size of a cockroach with a bad attitude, to the size of pissed of dragons that'd bite your face off before you can even squeak 'hi'

"When do we launch the attack, my lord?" The knight asked as he kneeled before his master. "The armies are assembled and ready".

"All in due time" Dan replied, flashing a brief smile down at his servant. "As much as I enjoy slaughtering countless innocents, there is one more game I wish to play first". The time staff flashed, and blackish goo oozed from the tip. It clumped and solidified, and in mere seconds, it took solid shape.

He appeared as a man in his early twenties, with flaming blue hair, formfitting body armor with blades tied to his forearms. And on his back, was a large expertly crafted guitar, eyes glowing red.

"I give you Blaze" Dan said as he introduced his inter dimensional slave. "You see I have observed the future of this timeline, and have found that the fools Skulker and Ember actually lived long enough to breed. He paused as his shocked servant took this information in.

"Of course he isn't the real one, that one's dead, but I figured I needed a face to put on my assassin doll, so I chose the face of the resistance leaders son" he turned to Blaze. "Go forth and kill in my name".

"Yes…." The dark blaze hissed in a low tone, as if he wasn't entirely sure how to talk correctly. His body disintegrated into a fine black mist, and the assassin was gone.

**LINEBREAK  
**  
Danni was thrilled when her fire powers ignited within her, no pun intended. However she was even more thrilled with the reactions of her yeti companions. At first they had regarded her as a harmless little girl who they had been forced to bring along with them.

Now however, they regarded her as the most terrifying being they'd ever come across, and they hung out with Frostbite all the time. She enjoyed herself immensely by igniting fireballs in her hand whenever one of them looked at her funny, or launching sparks at their feet as they frantically attempted to dance themselves out of the way. And now she was no longer the 'sibling of the great one' or 'little one' she was now known as 'the scary one' to her icy friends.

She even liked that she was now forced to camp away from the rest of the group for their safety, because now she could sleep on self heated ground instead of in the middle of an icy parking lot. However it annoyed her how long it was taking for them to locate the rest of her group. It seemed that the yeti's weren't very competent at using their own tracking technologies and they had been on an inter dimensional goose chase for the better part of three days.

There was this great big epic war going on, and all she'd gotten was a glorified camping trip. Danni sighed despondently, why did her life have to be so boring? This was when she decided her next move, to go off on her own, and find Danny and Daniel herself. And if the yeti's had a problem with it she'd melt their asses off!

**No, no full out war yet, and Daniel's plant problem hasn't been resolved yet, but I promise the pace will pick up soon. I'll do my best to update, since school starts tomorrow, I'm a sophomore bitches! And yes, a Blaze look alike will make an attempt on Skulker's life, sucks to be him. So, thanks for reading, and if you want to see the epic dimensional war that will be the climax, keep reading! Thank you!**


	24. Chapter 24

**Ok, this is coming out later than I originally wanted it to. I've gotten through my first week of school and I already have a lot of homework which I should probably be doing right now. But, I am a proud procrastinator and decided to put off my homework in order to waste some more of you wonderful peoples time. Enjoy.**

**LINEBREAK**

Skulker watched with a smirk as Ember and Sam circled in each other in the training ring, Danny standing beside him with his arms folded. What they were witnessing would be described by Tucker as a 'supernatural cat fight'. If Sam or Valerie heard him say that, he'd earn a well placed slap across the back of the head.

But then again it couldn't really be considered a catfight, it was training. The base had an expansive training area, with several large circular arenas identical to the one they now stood in. Ember had begrudgingly agreed to smother her hair before entering the arena, seeing as it would be a huge disadvantage for Sam if her opponent used nothing but fire power.

Sam was quickly because quite powerful. She could snap her fingers and four or five people will instantly find themselves suspended by vines from the ceiling, with leafy raptors gleefully trying to gnaw at their feet or ghost tails. Skulker had made sure to relentlessly tease Danny for having a girlfriend with built in restraints, but Ember then reminded him that his girlfriend had a built in flamethrower.

"So" Danny began awkwardly, trying to strike up a conversation, which was hard to do with one of your archenemies. "How exactly did you two meet?" he said gesturing to the fiery guitarist in front of them, locked in a duel with Sam. Skulker smirked.

"Most of us gathered to see if we could find a way to take you down" he peered at Danny through his mechanical eyes. "Then we realized we'd tried pretty much everything at that point, so we gave up. Well for a time at least. So I asked her out and here we are".

"Wow" Danny mumbled, wondering whether or not he should be offended. "I didn't know your hatred for me actually brought you guys together….that's nice…..I guess." Skulker gave a low chuckle.

"I didn't want to go to that meeting at first, I figured they'd all want to destroy you completely, then there'd be nothing left to hang on my wall. Which I still intend to do by the way" he added, reassuring him that despite their truce he'd still hunt him forever.

"Oh, great" Danny said with no enthusiasm whatsoever.

"Really Skulker, do you have to get on that subject now? After all, we all have to work together, for now at least". They turned to see a glowing Vlad limp into the room, which was weird because ghosts don't usually limp.

"Ah, Plasmius" Skulker said, approaching his former employer and shaking his semisolid hand. "It's good to see you out of bed, we need your sinister mind if we're to be victorious". Vlad sighed, moving his head to the side to avoid a vine missile that Sam had misfired, shouting a quick 'sorry!' before resuming her fight.

"Well, if what we've been told of the alternate timeline is true, than I am responsible for Dan's existence" he sounded ashamed, he had enough sins on his conscious already without knowing he created a being darker than the devil, even if it was in some alternate reality.

"You can't blame yourself for that" Danny assured him, not sounding completely sure himself. "That was in another timeline, and it was an accident, you had no way of predicting what would happen." Vlad's lips curled into the smallest of smiles.

"It's kind of you to comfort me, but I believe the only thing that will put me at peace will be ending this once and for all".

"That's the spirit!" Ember called as she and Sam approached them, both panting. "You fuck something up you fix it, that's all there is to it" she said with a grin, reigniting her ponytail, no longer having to worry about setting Sam aflame.

"It's a bit more complicated than that" Vlad muttered, but realized he'd get nowhere with this crowd.

"So how long until you're up to fighting again?" Danny asked, changing the subject.

"I'm not sure" Vlad answered. "I'm still adjusting to have no material body; it's actually quite nauseating to accidentally stick your hand into your stomach." Skulker chuckled and Ember muttered something that sounded suspiciously like 'pussy'.

"So let's get upstairs, lunch is on soon" Sam said breaking the awkward moment. She made her way to the large blast iron doors at the end of the chamber and pressed the large red button beside it. It was safe to say that she was not expecting to see this on the other side.

A figure who was completely black and featureless, nearly six feet tall, and had large broad shoulders. In his grasp was on one Walker's guards, a glowing blade at his throat. They had no time to react as he plunged the blade into the guards throat, making him tumble to the ground, and dissipate in a cloud of green particles.

Skulker was in front, and naturally the first to react. A gun folded out of his arm, and within a second half a dozen energy bolts had been let off. The assailant ducked with the reflexes of a cat, rolling to the side.

"He's mine!" Skulker bellowed as the others started to come to his aid, he wasn't going to let a challenge get away; he was the ghost zones greatest hunter after all. The figure twisted and rolled around the room, avoiding all of Skulkers attacks. Then he decided to take a different approach, and clicked a switch on his gauntlet, letting a katana-like blade slide out.

"How many weapons does he have?" Sam whispered to Ember.

"I have no idea" Ember answered honestly. "He installs new ones every other day".

The assassins biggest mistake was probably charging directly at the bionic hunter, who instantly grabbed him by the throat and slammed him directly into the ground. He raised his sword blade and prepared to stab his downed opponent, when suddenly he felt his enemy begin to shift. His skin began to shimmer like water, and it melted away and slowly took shape into a young man with flaming hair, armor and a guitar.

"Would you really kill me, father?" he asked with an innocent face and equally innocent voice. Skulker was shocked to say the least, immediately letting go of his throat.

"B-b-blaze?" he stuttered, which very unlike Skulker. His allies who stood along the walls had their mouths hanging agape in shock, Ember instinctively gripping her stomach that had not yet began to grow. The dark version of the boy they had seen in the memories smirked at them, his eyes flashing with a red that could only be identified with Dan's, a red more crimson than blood.

"It's good to know you recognize me, dad" he said as he took his guitar into his hands, adjusting the tuners to his liking as if he were casually preparing for a concert. "Now not to be rude or anything, but I have a job to do" he turned his gaze to Ember. "You're free to watch, mom".

Then he swung his arm like a windmill and strummed his instrument, letting a massive sonic blast, sending everyone in the room barreling backward into the walls. Then with a great crackling noise his blue mane of fiery hair exploded, engulfing the room in flames. Danny instantly shoved his hands to the floor and pumped all his will into his ice powers.

The flames flickered and hissed as they formed steam when they mixed with the ice, but they still remained quite full and healthy. This didn't seem to matter to Blaze because he lunged at his father, letting loose a furious chain of hand to hand attacks. It was easy to see that he was much more agile than Skulker, who's speed was hindered by his combat suit, and it didn't help that Blaze taunted him as he attacked.

"What's the matter, dad?" he asked slyly as he continued his onslaught. "Too weak to take down your own son? Have you really gone that soft father, that sentimental? Has the ghost zones greatest hunter really fallen that low?" Skulker was knocked down by a solid hit to the jaw, and Blaze stood over him with a large gun pointed directly into his face.

"It isn't him Skulker!" Vlad called desperately from where he stood surrounded by fire. "He's a shade! A dark reflection of the real thing! He is not your son!" Skulker looked up at a face similar to his own, that even shared the same evil glint in the eyes. But it was different, it was not the hunt, it was the slaughter. The hunter let his spare short range knife protrude from his gauntlet.

He leapt to his feet, and shoved his blade directly into the barrel of Blaze's gun. He slung the gun aside, the blade still lodged in it, and once again grabbed his opponent by the throat.

"You haven't got the guts" Dark Blaze hissed softly. "Not even an animal like you would murder his own kin." Danny was shocked to see actual tears streaming down Skulker's metal face.

"You are not my son, no child of mine would serve the devil under any circumstances….. I am sorry". And within his iron grip he crushed his enemies neck and slammed him to the ground, crushing his skull. There was a loud shriek as Blaze faded, and as Skulker stood up, green blood hands and tears in his eyes he roared for all of the base to hear.

"Prepare for battle! For now we go to war!!!"

**LINEBREAK**

Danni sighed as she drifted aimlessly through the wasteland of the ghost zone. She was happy to be free of the yetis, and although it wasn't in her nature to blatantly dislike someone or a group of people, she had been very annoyed with them, and considering the stress level of the scenario, her temper was easier to trigger than usual.

She was having fun fiddling with her new powers, creating flames in different shapes and using them to project herself at incredible speed. But there weren't any enemies to use them on here, and the zone seemed much emptier and lonely than usual. Although she didn't want to admit it, she had absolutely no idea where she was going.

She stopped and spun around three hundred and sixty degrees, looking for anything, anywhere. To her right she saw a ruined fortress, with a massive eye symbol falling of from where it rested atop the large gates. This was as good as any place to start, for all she knew her friends could be camping in there. Not likely, but she didn't have any better ideas.

It turned out that the fortress was farther away than it appeared, and it took her half an hour to reach the gates. She floated cautiously through the double doors that now lay in shambled in the doorway. The place was dark and creepy, and she ignited a fireball in her hand for light. It had no windows, and the torch stands along the walls were all burnt out.

She could already tell that her friends were not here, and she would have thought that no one was there had a voice that nearly made her jump out of her translucent skin not called to her.

"Hello Danielle, it's nice to finally meet you in person." She spun around and approached a door with glowing green bars on it. She peered through them to see a man sitting casually in an armchair, a book in his hands with a very long beard, red eyes, and watches that covered both of his arms. Although she had never seen him before, she knew that this could only be one person.

"Clockwork…" she breathed quietly.

**Yes I'm sorry there isn't much development here and we saw nothing of Daniel, but the next chapter will be devoted almost entirely to Daniel and he'll finally deal with his weed problem. And as you can probably guess all of our heroes paths will eventually converge for the war to end all wars. I cant bloody wait to write that part, I'm spazzing just thinking about it. The next chapter will come sooner, I promise, I've just had a ton of homework this week and if my grades slipped my mom'll kill me. Have a nice day. **


	25. Chapter 25

**Ok, I'm starting this next chapter past my curfew. (Oh shit, I think my mom's coming….. never mind). I lost track of days and meant to write this a few days ago, but schools been hell, and my attention span isn't getting any better. (and my stupid therapist said the pills would help!) A couple people have mentioned Clockwork, apparently people didn't know where he was. Ok I admit it is a little weird for the god of time to be chilling in a prison cell, you might have noticed he warped in books and an armchair, but as he knows how everything will turn out, he sees this as a sort of vacation from his usual duties. **

**LINEBREAK**

Undergrowth charged with his arms raised prepared to crush his opponent. Although raising his arms wasn't really necessary, as he was the size of the Sears tower, as well as full of supernatural energy, and his opponent was the size of a small insect from his perspective.

Daniel was at a loss for what to do. Undergrowth was coming so fast that there was no way he'd be able to pick up speed to get out of the way in any direction. He could try to counter with a charge of his own, but even with his massive power level he didn't have enough time to charge enough energy to both harm Undergrowth, and prevent him from regenerating instantaneously.

He did the only thing he could; he raised the sword, its side facing his enemy, and formed a bubble shield around himself, filling it with as much energy as he could. Undergrowth brought his fist straight down, sending the bubble containing Daniel pelting downward. The energy melted quickly through the layer of vines as well as the concrete street below.

Now Daniel found himself in an old sewer tunnel that had roots the thickness of tree trunks running up and down the moist walls. Like on the surface the sewer was like a mutagenic forest, except slightly less dense. The roots clung to the walls and the pipes at Daniel's feet, which were probably providing them with extra nourishment.

Daniel thought for a moment about freezing the roots like he'd done during his first encounter with the flora spirit, but knew it would do no good. The sewer system extended for miles, and there was no way that he'd be able to freeze all of them. He heard a great chortle from above, and looked up to see Undergrowth peering down at him like an amused kindergartener looking in on an ant farm.

"You surprise me, small one. You are quite powerful, why not gain even more and join the growth? I could always use a servant such as you". Daniel scratched his pretending to contemplate a decision.

"Oh yes, I'm just jumping with excitement at the thought of joining a overgrown weed with a god complex. Now can we move onto the part where I kick your ass? I have somewhere to be, and someone else's ass to kick". As he said this he heard Dan chuckle in his head.

"Very well," Undergrowth said as his face hardened. "You have now twice rejected my offer; I will no longer be so generous!" The tunnel shook as the roots ripped themselves from the walls and reached out for Daniel like a giant squid with a million tentacles that just couldn't reach him. He swung his sword ferociously, chopping of dozens upon dozens of the roots tips, which instantly grew back.

He continued to swing, his strikes becoming more and wilder as they went. Then he felt himself hit something slightly denser than the roots and he inhaled the sickening stench of rotten eggs. He turned his head, and saw that he had punctured a long pipe that ran the length of the tunnel and far out of his sight. Then it hit him. He had punctured the gas line! Even after many years it was still intact.

Daniel stopped his attacks, and turned his attention to the knick he'd made in the pipe. The roots around the gas pipe wrapped around his arms, rendering him unable to move him arms fully. So instead he shot a thin beam of heated energy from the tip of his blade directly at the knick. The effects were immediate, and Daniel turned himself intangible at the blast came. The hole of the pipe exploded, burning the roots to less than ashes.

He heard Undergrowth shriek as he began to shrink in size, much of his flora covering the city withdrawing into his body. The flora Sam's glow became less bright, and he she slowly floated to the ground, and collapsed, as her master no longer had enough energy to power her. Daniel rocketed out of the tunnel, and raised his sword above his head.

Without preamble he brought the blade down on the weakening spirit, goo spraying in all directions. The plants that covered everything fade completely, leaving Amity park a barren, yet wrecked ghost town. (no pun intended).

"Well, that was quick. I thought he'd give you more of a challenge, no matter though".

'Dan!" Daniel shouted to the sky from where he floated several hundred feet in the air, arms held out to his sides. "I'm done playing your games! Fight me you coward!!" but all he heard in response was Dan's low chuckling.

"You know maybe I've taken the wrong approach in breaking you. You are a living weapon and battle is second nature to you. But maybe a different nightmare will do the trick?" Daniel looked around, expecting the world to fade to white again, but no such thing happened. Then his eyelids began to feel heavy, his limbs went numb, and before he knew it, he was falling, falling into nothingness.

**LINEBREAK**

"Have a seat" the master of time said to Dani through his cell door. He snapped his fingers, and before the clone could even blink the door had disappeared, and a comfy armchair identical to the one Clockwork now sat in appeared across from him. She hesitantly stepped into the room and sat down. She sat their nervously for what seemed like an hour before Clockwork closed his book and looked up at her.

"Well, Danielle, I assume by now your brother has told you about me?" he asked, with his usual emotionless look on his face although she could see the edges of his lips twinge slightly. She nodded.

"And I assume you have no idea why you're here?" this confused Dani, there was a reason she was here other than accidentally wandering into the fortress?

"I see" Clockwork said when he didn't receive an answer, tenting his fingers lightly. "Well is it good to be away from your companions? 'Scary one'?" he smirked as he said it.

"H-how did you know that?" she stuttered, unnerved that he knew about her new title.

"I know everything. I even knew that we'd meet on this day in this very place."

"But why here?" Dani asked looking around at the prison walls that had been classed up with bookshelves from nowhere. "You were imprisoned? How'd that happen? I thought you were supposed to be all powerful or something. And on top of that, there's no one here, why are _you _still here?" Clockwork chuckled lightly.

"Well even I need a vacation, and I already knew how and when this whole crisis would all play out, as well as the fact that I would not be needed for much of it. So I decided to catch up on my reading" he gestured to the bookshelves.

"Reading?" Dani questioned. "But I though you knew everything, what would reading do?"

"I do know everything, but I find it refreshing to look back over history. For example I just read over the fall of the Roman empire, oh that bring me back". He snapped his fingers and the books disappeared. "Very well, onto business". He paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts.

"Well, you, like all of your companions have achieved quite an increase in power in a very short time. You are enjoying you knew powers, are you not?" she snapped her fingers and sparks flew from their tips, yes, she was enjoying her fire powers. Clockwork continued.

"But unlike Danny you have been unable to grasp a ghostly obsession, you have wondered why that is I am sure". Dani nodded, why did he have to remind her?

"I am sorry to tell you that it will not be achieved for sometime as you will not even come into contact with the object of your obsession for several years. But now I can offer you several things, knowledge and guidance". Dani fought herself not to groan out loud.

"I can send you to the base of the resistance, where you will find Danny, Samantha, and Vladimir". Dani's head jerked up in surprise.

"H-he's alive?!" Clockwork shook his head gravely.

"No, I am afraid that Dan ended his human life. However the technology of Technus was able to solidify his ectoplasmic residue into full form, making him a full ghost". Dani lowered her head in shame, guilt engulfing her conscious.

"And now I offer you guidance. However I doubt you or Danny will like following it. Go with the flow, all things happen for a reason, nothing is an accident. And most of all, when the prophecy does reveal itself to you, do not interfere, for there are some losses that must be lost, and sacrifices that must be made. Good day Danielle, until next time."

Before Dani could absorb this advice, or even open her mouth to retort, the master of time had snapped his fingers for a final time, and a swirling portal opened above her. It was like being sucked into a miniature black hole, and as she flew screaming through the vortex she couldn't move any of her limbs, nor attempt to fly in any other direction.

The portal opened, and Dani was flung at high speeds, her face coming directly into contact with a wall of solid steel.

"Dani?" a voice said from behind her. she pulled herself painfully to her feet, and turned to see a crowded barracks full of ghosts looking at her oddly. At the front of the crowd was Danny, who was strapping armor to his shoulders, Sam suiting up beside him.

"Danny…" she panted, still out of breath from the wormhole. Before she could say anything else, Danny had ran to her side and tightly embraced his clone/little sister.

"Clockwork sent me here, cryptic bastard gave me advice and then sent me off before I could say anything" she said from within her brothers arms. She looked around curiously. "Where's Daniel?" She felt Danny's arms stiffen and saw his face fall.

"Come on," he said breaking the embrace. "Let's get you ready for battle, a lot's happened since you;ve been gone."

**LINEBREAK**

Daniel was surprisingly comfortable, his eyes were still closed, and he felt like he was lying on a cloud. A very comfortable cloud make of light silks to be exact. A light weight was on his chest, and he nearly screamed at the sight when he opened his eyes.

He was in his bed in his darkly colored bedroom, and his wife, Sam, was sleeping peacefully beside him, her head on his chest. He was in his pajamas, and none of the scars that he had attained over the past year marred his body.

His body shook with horror as he quietly slipped out from underneath her and nearly fell over as he ran to the large window just above their dresser. He did gasp this time as he saw the city of Amity Park, completely undestroyed and undamaged laid out before him. In the distance he could see the top of the Fenton Works sign where his parents still resided and the rest of his old life just as he remembered it.

His legs began to sway and he had to lean on the dresser to keep his balance.

"You're up early" Sam spoke behind him. He turned to see Sam smiling at him from the bed, and he only half returned it. "We better get up soon; we have to get ready for the party, Jack's probably already up, it's not every day you turn fourteen."

"Yeah…" he muttered back. She got up and gave him a light kiss on the lips before moving into the bathroom for a shower.

What was this? Had Clockwork thrown him a chance to fix things? Was Dan brainwashing him? Had it all been a dream in the first place? All the evidence was gone, no sword no armor, and his body was unharmed. All he knew was that he was back at his son's birthday and illusion or not, he would not let them die again. Never, ever, again.

**So I suppose you can guess what I'm doing to Daniel now, huh? Instead of physical horrors he'll have to deal with psychological and emotional horrors. And Dani's back with the gang, and the prophecy continues to elude them, don't worry though, it'll all come out soon. The next chapters are going to be longer, as they will contain the war/battle and the final confrontation between Danny, Dan and Daniel. Happy reading!**


	26. Chapter 26

**Ok, I know I'm going to have a hard time writing this one, but I've got to get to it sooner or later. Well the battle is going to start, and we get to see more of what's going on with Daniel, so lets get on with it already! I'm not sure how long this will be but I'll do my best. **

**LINEBREAK**

Skulker had not spoken to anyone since the incident with Dan's agent impersonating his son, nor had anyone tried to speak with him, they knew that he had nothing to say to them. In fact for a twelve hour period no one had seen him at all, not even Ember. When he had finally shown himself again, barely anyone recognized him.

He had apparently been making some heavy modifications to his suit. Now he appeared to be something out of hardcore sci-fi film, with a helmet that covered his hair and face, massive guns strapped to each of his forearms, and an increased height of about two feet, making him nearly ten feet tall. So now he looked like a ghostly combination of a storm trooper, Master Chief, and every other generic space marine from the video game world.

If Danny were to fly around the human world as he was now, people wouldn't believe it was him. His hair was slightly longer, and his face unshaven, so he had light fuzz on his chin. On his shoulders and arms he wore armor plates that had been designed to channel his ectoplasmic energy to create a protective barrier around his skin.

The resistances leaders were not the only ones who had gotten a pre-battle makeover. Sam appeared to be some kind of flora goddess (Danny thinks so at least), with her hair now halfway down her back and plants of all kind covering her slender body, she was half beautiful, all deadly. Ember had strapped portable amplifiers to her belts, and golden record throwing stars strapped to her hips.

The armies had assembled quickly, and now floated together in a huge mass directly outside of the resistance base. Even after two years of ghost fighting, never once had Danny seen so many different ghosts gathered in a single place. Not even when he had gathered ghosts to power the transfer device to turn the world intangible had there been so many.

Now Danny floated next to Skulker at the front of the army, the custom sword Technus had crafted for him held lightly in his right hand. There was a light hissing noise as Skulker remotely lifted his heavy visor from his face.

"Are you ready, ghost child?" he asked darkly, clearly eager to get into battle. Slowly, Danny nodded.

"Just give me one more minute". He gestured to the frontline, where Sam floated beside Ember. She quickly flew to his side. Like they had done so many times before, they stood their awkwardly, eyes on the ground in front of them.

"So…" Danny said scratching the back of his head.

"Yeah…" Sam continued for him.

"I guess this is it" Danny said quietly. "After today, well I'm not sure".

"You're not?" Sam asked him. Danny looked at her oddly, she smiled.

"You need to stop being so dramatic, you're acting like you might not come back." Danny opened his mouth to interrupt, but Sam continued on.

"Yeah, this is the worst situation we've ever been in, but so what? You'll pull through just like you always do."

"But what if I don't?" Danny asked almost pleadingly. "I know you believe in me, and it makes me happy that you do, but what if this is it? What if I fail and leave you and everyone else to clean up from my mistake?"

"Because you're the hero Danny, you fight even when there isn't any hope left and every time it's looked like it's the end you've always turned things around". Danny opened his mouth but no words found him. He looked down.

"I love you". This was all he'd really wanted to say, a final farewell before they charged into battle. He felt Sam's soft but strong fingers lift his chin up, and saw her beautiful violet eyes stare into his.

"I love you too. Now let's go finish this so we can get on with our lives. I'm looking forward to being 'Mrs. Fenton'". Danny couldn't help but grin, and nodded in agreement.

'Yeah, let's go kick some demonic ass". Their lips met, and both would have been happy to simply stay like that forever. But considering who was with them that would be impossible.

"Hey lovebirds! Save it for the after party!" Dani called to them, laughing herself silly in midair. Danny and Sam exchanged a look.

"Remind me to get back at her for that later" Danny whispered to his girlfriend. She nodded, they could beat her up later, they needed her for the battle though.

"Ok!" Skulker bellowed to the crowd, silencing the chattering at once.

"If you're all expecting some kind epic speech out of the movies, sorry to disappoint you. We don't really have an elaborate plan either. We can't flank them, the gates into hell aren't wide enough. So just get in and blast whatever you can see, kill them all." He gestured over his shoulder at Danny. "We'll be taking care of Dan. No let's move out!"

The crowd cheered as they began to fly as one, beginning the long journey to the gates of hell.

"For Daniel?" Skulker asked Danny in a hushed tone. Danny nodded, determination clear in her eyes.

"For Daniel".

The army flew through the endless expanse of the ghost zone, passing entrances to dozens of different ghosts lairs, most of which were empty, as nearly every ghost in the zone was part of the attack force. Danny allowed Vlad to lead the way, as he had thoroughly explored the realm over the years. He'd never been this deep in the zone, seeing as he usually tried to avoid coming in here if he could.

The atmosphere began considerably darker as they continued the streaks of green that littered the space around them slowly fading into nothing but black. The floating rocks and objects also lessened, the zone becoming more and more of an empty void, making it easier for the army continue onward.

After what seemed like hours of slow and steady flight, the gates came into sight for the first time. There appeared to be no doors to the gates, just a large rift like opening suspended in midair by an invisible force. Flames seemed to pour from it, tongues consuming anything that got close. There was however a border around the opening, large skeletal hands that seemed to be ripping the gateway open, and holding it open at the same time.

"Well," Danny said awkwardly as he turned to his comrades, who were staring aghast at the flaming portal. "Who's first?"

**LINEBREAK**

Daniel's fingers fidgeted nervously on the steering wheel of the family van as he drove to the organic market. Sam had sent him out for party supplies, and they didn't usually fly everywhere, it drew too much attention. He had been doing his best to hide his emotions from his family members, but they had quickly seen that he was acting odd.

But he simply couldn't think straight, let alone convincingly act like himself. Was this some elaborate illusion put forth by Dan? If it was why had nothing happened yet, why hadn't Dan swept in to take the happiness that the few hours he'd spent in this world had brought him? It wasn't like the devil to allow his enemy any happiness, especially this enemy who he seemed to get off on tormenting.

What bothered him the most was that his memory was becoming fuzzy. He couldn't discern between what had happened and what was happening now. Had all of that really happened? Was it just some horrific nightmare of incredibly terrifying detail? He just couldn't decide whether or not he was being manipulated by Dan, or simply going insane. Both?

He pulled into the parking lot and made his way into the store. After twenty years of his identity being public, he was used to people turning their heads to look at him as he walked by, or calling out to him with thanks or praise. He ignored several calls of 'Hey Mr. Phantom!' and quickly began his shopping.

After piling a shopping cart full of organic flower, non-dairy milk and tofu squares (the whole family's vegetarian), he paid and left the store as fast as he could. When he arrived home he was immediately greeted by his children, who had been asleep when he left.

"Morning Dad" Jack mumbled sleepily as he came to hug his father.

"Mornin' Daddy" his little girl said as she kissed him on the cheek.

"Morning Dad" David said, seeming much more awake than the other two, as he was the early riser of the family.

"Good morning kids" Daniel said with a smile, doing all he could muster to not simply break down right then and there, to sob and hold onto his children for as long as he could. He really was going mad, wasn't he?

"Better get in here and eat before the guests arrive" he said as he lead the trio into the large marble kitchen. "Especially you, birthday boy" he said giving his white haired son a playful wink. Jacks tired looking eyes instantly brightened.

"Oh yeah, I gotta call Tyler, be right back." Light blue rings formed around his waist and his hair turned jet black, and his violet eyes became green. He jumped into the air and phased through the ceiling into his bedroom.

"We've got to ghost proof the walls" Sam said as she filled David and Lily's bowls with oatmeal. "Otherwise his body will be useless if he just flies everywhere".

"But walking is boring!"Lily put in loudly. He mother gave her a look. "What? It's not like you walked everywhere when you were first able to fly".

"No" Sam agreed with her daughter. "But I'd been walking for sixteen years before then so being able to fly was a little nerve wracking". She smiled at Daniel as she sat down between her children. "Your father hated flying at first, it scared him half to death when he first accidentally launched himself a hundred feet in the air."

Daniel couldn't help but smile at the memory of his first flight, even if right now he didn't know if any of the was real.

"When did I fly for the first time mom?" Lily asked Sam curiously.

"When you were a baby" she answered. "You kept floating out of your crib, and when we tied you to it you shot it off with an ecto beam." The family laughed, this kind of thing was normal for them. Daniel gave a genuine smile. He didn't care if this was real or not. That of course, was a mistake.

**LINEBREAK**

Needless to say, no one jumped at the offer to be the first to purposefully fling themselves across the devils doorstep. But luckily for them, they didn't need to decide who would go first anymore. A great noise that sounded like the cawing of some sick and twisted bird echoed across the emptiness. They all peered around to see creatures numbered in the thousands, pouring out of the rift.

The demons were of every size and shape imaginable, ranging from the size of mice, to the size of dragons that would take up an entire football stadium by themselves. Many appeared to be animals, seemingly covered in dark crusty blood and with black leathery wings on their shoulders. Others looked humanoid, like demonic angels with horns the length of katanas and vampire fangs dripping with unknown fluid. They flew at the ghostly army like a blackish red cloud of energy, ready to rip each and every one of them to shreds.

The ghosts prepared for battle quickly, wasting no time with battle cries or quirky catchphrases. (as disappointing as that may be) Danny drew his sword and began to channel his power through it like electricity through a lightning rod. Behind him Ember could be heard powering up her amplifiers, and Sam had produced masses of thorn covered vines from her forearms and lower back.

There was a loud mechanical whirring as Skulkers weapons powered up, rocket launchers folding out of his shoulder plates, the chain guns on his forearms spinning as they activated, and two smaller guns emerging from his shin plates. Vlad had a sword of his own, a old style fencing sword, which glowed purple as he prepared for battle. Dani's arms were covered in flames as she literally heated herself up for the fight, her eyes burning brightly with both ectoplasm and fire.

And then, they were upon them. The demons attacked with the ferocity of wolves, tearing mercilessly at anything they could reach, friend or foe. The ghostly army had let loose a wave of energy large enough to knock out the first wave of opponents, but that was only the beginning. Within seconds, Danny was slashing wildly in all directions, periodically freezing several demons at a time.

Skulker was a walking (floating) tank, and fought with more bloodlust that Danny had ever seen him. His chain guns ripped the smaller demons apart like tissue paper, and black blood covered his face plate. It seemed for a while that the ghosts were winning, loosing virtually none of their forces. But that was before they realized just how many demons there were.

If you were to look at the ghost army from a distance, you would see a single large green cloud, speckled here and there with other colors such as purple and blue. But if you looked at the army of hell from a distance, you'd see a mass of red and black clouds that would fill the sky and eclipse the same from its size alone.

Danny suddenly felt himself being flung out of the way as a dragon came crashing through the frontlines, eager to get at the weaker ghosts behind them. He charged through the air and attempted to stab the dragon, but his blade vibrated violently as it bounced off the rough scaly armor that covered it's skin.

"I got it!" Skulker yelled as he rocketed onto the dragons back, straight over Danny's shoulder. Danny returned to the fight, cutting down demon after demon, but he peered back over his shoulder and watched what the ghost zones best hunter would do. Skulker ran up the dragons back, directly onto it's head.

It shook itself hard, trying to get the armored foe off, to no avail. The hunter grabbed a rocket from the launcher atop his shoulder and ripped it off. He shoved it into the dragons mouth just as it was about to unleash a huge spurt of flames. The beast exploded in a mass of blood and gooey cartilage, covering Skulker from head to toe.

"What are you looking at?! He bellowed to the onlookers who had stopped to watch. "Fight!"

**Ok, this took a lot longer than I wanted it to and it isn't as long as I wanted it to be either, but at least I got the battle of the ground. I've got about five papers for school, so I haven't had any time lately, but I promise that the next one will come sooner and I'll do my best to make it a little bit lengthier. Although even if the chapters are shorter than I want, I'm still going to make this one hell of a fight, so stay tuned!**


	27. Chapter 27

**Ok I'm getting this out a lot later than I originally wanted to but school really, really sucks. Now I hope to make this chapter long and action filled but I don't know how much time I have tonight so I'll fit as much into this as possible. **

**LINEBREAK**

The battle continued on for an incalculable amount of time, as all the combatants had lost their clear perception of time in the heat of the fight. The ghostly front lines were holding, cutting down horde after horde of demons. But the demonic forces had something that the ghosts didn't, an infinite amount of reinforcements.

Not matter how many enemies they shot, blasted, ripped in half, mutilated or discombobulated they just kept coming. Danny flew directly onto a demonic tyrannosaurus's head, and plunged his blade directly into its skull. As the beast started to collapse he ran down its back and leapt off the tip of its tail, launching into the air.

"How many are there!" he bellowed as he slung arcs of energy from his sword.

"Can't say" he heard the mechanical voice of Skulker yell back to him from amongst the hordes of ghosts and demons. Danny groaned. Had they really just walked into a battle against an army that couldn't be killed. Apparently, yes they had.

A huge noise ripped at his eardrums as Ember unleashed a huge sonic wave from her guitar, amplified tenfold by the amplifiers on her belt. Huge masses of the demons shrieked in agony as the sound hit them. This allowed for a wave of ectoblasts to eliminate another horde of enemies.

"What do we do?" Sam asked during the temporary ceasefire. "They're just gonna keep coming!"

"I can only think of one thing" Skulker whispered, staring towards the fiery gates of hell as he locked a rocket onto his shoulder and reloaded his weapons. "Take out the source, the rest will fall" Danny realized what he meant, and he didn't like it at all, but knew it had to be done.

"We have to take out Dan, and fast".

Skulker nodded.

"But how do we do that?" Danny asked, swinging his sword like a baseball bat to hold the enemy off for just a moment more. "There's no way we can get through this, and we can't hold them here forever!"

Dani and Vlad floated over to join their group, launching attacks of their own to hold them off just a bit longer

Skulker took a few potshots at some of the smaller demons, causing them to explode in tiny red clouds. This was apparently how he thought the best.

"I can only think of one thing" he said after a moment. "We wing it".

If they were part of an anime, Danny and Sam would have done anime-falls in mid-air. But as they are part of a different reality they simply stared at him. Ember seemed unfazed by her boyfriend's strategy. It was just like him.

"What kind of idea is that!" Sam screeched at the hunter.

"What else do we have? Use your wail whelp, clear us a path. Our army can hold here for long enough. So give it a shot or we all die here before we even reach Dan".

"I agree. It's our only option" Vlad said raising his own thin blade in preparation. Danny looked between the two of them and then to Sam and Dani. They all nodded.

"Let's wing it then". Just as the hordes reached them once for he opened his mouth and from his lips came the ghostly wail.

**LINEBREAK**

"So they've come to my doorstep eh?" Dan mused to himself atop his throne. The hall was empty, all of his demonic forces now crowding around the gates. In front of him floated two separate orbs.

The orb on the right shows Danny unleashing his ghostly wail, punching a huge hole in the demonic lines. He watched as Danny, Sam, Vlad, Dani, and Skulker flew at top speed through the newly formed path with Ember now leading the frontlines. He mentally forced the rest of his demonic forces to part, allowing them entrance. A confrontation was coming, so why not help it along?

The orb on the left depicted something far different. Dan chuckled as he watched Daniel go through the motions of the worst day of his life. He scratched his flaming goateed chin for a moment.

"Well this is far too interesting to watch by myself. I should invite in the guests" he said to himself. He snapped his fingers and beside the orbs a circle of black flames erupted from the ground. The circle cleared and in their place were the Fentons, tucker and Valerie. The Manson parents weren't really important enough to torture mentally; they could remain unconscious and be slaughtered later.

All five of them were coughing horribly and looked like hell. No pun intended. Their clothes were torn and their faces were layered with soot.

"Welcome" Dan said in what could be considered a warm welcome, standing up and spreading his arms wide, his sword and the staff of time in his hands. "I'm so glad you could join me tonight, Tucker, Valerie, Jazz, Father, Mother".

"You are not our son" Jack said in a tone much darker than anyone in the room had ever heard him use before. "You may have been him once, in your own twisted reality, but not anymore. You aren't Danny, and we are not your family". Dan chuckled lightly.

"You really think you're gonna hold us here?" Tucker said clutching his bruised side. "You know Danny's gonna show up and he's gonna kick your ass." Valerie nodded in agreement but did not speak. Jazz on the other hand was too petrified of being in the devil's castle to even think of speaking.

"Oh really?" Dan asked as if he were talking to a dysfunctional six year old. "Then just take a look over here." He gestured to the orbs, and all five of them gasped.

"See?" Dan asked. "Danny is on his way, but he'll be at least another half hour. Do you like what I've done with Daniel?"

"H-h-how?" Maddie stuttered, seeing Daniel within the orb, greeting older versions of herself and Jack as they entered his home.

"It's funny the things you can do when you control time" Dan said with a smirk. He tossed the staff once into the air and caught it on the tip of his index finger.

"So let's enjoy the show, shall we?"

**LINEBREAK"**

"Danny-boy!" Jack bellowed as he entered the house, pulling his son into his trademark bigger-than-bear hugs. Even as he was being suffocated by his father Daniel couldn't help but smile. He'd missed this.

"Let him breath, Jack" Maddie said from behind her husband. Jack released Daniel and Maddie pulled her son into a hug.

"Grandpa! Grandma!" voices chimed from the top of the stairs. In an instant all three of the Fenton children had literally flown down the stairs directly at their favorite set of grandparents. Lily landed and gave Maddie a hug and a kiss on the cheek. The boys however tackled their grandfather to the ground as he loved rough housing just as much as they did.

"How you doing birthday boy?" Jack asked as he slung both boys over his massive shoulders. "You're gonna love my present, it's the new Fent-"

"Come on honey, don't give away the surprise already" Maddie told him, but she was still smiling. Daniel chuckled. Oh how he loved his crazy family.

As the children dragged Jack and Maddie into the kitchen the doorbell rang once again. Daniel took a moment to straighten his tie. He knew that since all the other guests were already there, that only left his in-laws had yet to arrive. He opened the door to reveal Jeremy and Pam Manson, dressed in their usual classy attire.

"Daniel" Jeremy said shaking his son-in-laws hand.

"Sir" Daniel replied.

"Oh now where is Jack?" Pamela asked rushing past Daniel. "I just know he's going to love his gift". Daniel directed them towards the kitchen, not bothering to tell her that his son had no interest in a new suit.

In the kitchen Sam and Valerie sat together talking while the children who ran around in all direction in play. Jack Sr. and Jack Jr. sat at the table, utensils in hand, eyes fixed on the large fudge cake perched upon the marble counters.

"Come on kids!" Sam called. "Presents first, then cake!". There was a loud 'Aww man!' from both of the Jacks. Sam smiled at her husband and gave him a peck on the cheek as they made their way toward the living room.

"Maybe this time we can get through presents before my mom gets into a fight with Maddie". Daniel smiled at her, remembering his mothers many squabbles with his mother in law. "We both know that's not gonna happen."

By now he didn't care if this was an illusion or not. He would get every second out of it, and if Dan did show up, he would see it coming.

They entered the living room where presents were piled in the center. The adults took the couches and armchairs while the kids sprawled out on the floor. Daniel sat down next to his wife, and relaxed.

**LINEBREAK**

The doors of the throne room exploded open and the five ghostly warriors flew into the room. The Fenton's cries of joy at the sight of Danny and Dani were silence by the sound of a massive ray of blue energy, amplified tenfold by his ghostly obsession's presence exploding from Danny's fist.

It didn't hurt Dan, it didn't even scratch him, but he did have to raise his hand to absorb the blow. A rocket was launched from Skulker's shoulder and was immediately cut in half by the soul shredder.

Dan weaved and sidestepped around the barrage of energy, fire, gun shots, and vines before slamming his fist to the ground. Energy erupted from the ground and bound them to the ground, they all struggled, but to no avail.

"Fight me you coward!" Danny screamed from his knees. "Stop binding me in place and fight me!" Dan chuckled as he paced before his clone, counterpart, former friends and arch nemesis and his family.

"Oh yes that was your plan, wasn't it? Charge in here and attack? Didn't you notice that my army let you through? You see I do plan to fight you, eventually I'll fight you all out. But for no, we talk". He moved faster than light as he spun around, the back of his hand coming into contact with Sam's cheek, knocking her out cold.

Danny shouted out in anger and retaliation as Dan dropped Sam's bonds and took her into his arms, stroking her hair lightly.

"Tell me…" Dan whispered more quietly than Danny had ever heard him. "Tell me how".

"What do you mean?" Danny hissed. He didn't want to answer any of Dan's questions.

"Tell me how it is that love will save you". He paused for a moment, stroking a finger up Sam's bloodied cheek. "Daniel has told you of your ghostly obsessionand that it is your love for her that gives you power. He has told you that love is stronger than me, that it will grant you the strength to pull through. But if that were true, why is it that I exist. For you see it is love that created me."

He waved his arm in his former family's direction.

"It was my love for these worthless piles of flesh that brought me into the world. When they died so did I. I succumb to the temptation of becoming a full ghost, anything to stop the pain that filled my empty heart. Now tell me Danny Phantom, if love did not save me, how will it save you!"

Danny stared at the devil for a long time. He had never expected Dan to ever say anything like this. What unnerved him even more than the fact that he was saying it, was the fact that it was all true.

"It's about the choice" Danny said. "Daniel lost his family too, but he didn't give in, he kept fighting. It's all about the choice, and you made yours." Dan snarled at his younger counterpart. He waved a hand and Danny's hands were released, and his fallen sword flew back into his hand. His feet however remained firmly secured to the ground.

"Choice huh?" Dan question with a frown on his pale face. "I suppose you're right. Daniel Did make his choice, and now he will pay for it, just watch, as he loses everything for a second time.

**LINEBREAK**

Daniel watched happily as Jack Jr. opened his birthday presents. His son loved all of his gifts, apart from Pamela's gift of clothing. Jazz had arrived late, brining with her a laptop as a gift, her husband James with her.

"This is awesome you guys, thanks!" Jack thanked them all from where he sat amongst his large pile of newly unwrapped gifts. The new fourteen year old paused for a moment. "So how about some cake?"

Everyone laughed as they stood up, about to make their way into the kitchen. Then a blue mist escaped every halfa in the rooms lips. They all turned on their heels as a disheveled cloaked figure phased into the room, and Daniel's heart sank. He was the fastest to transform, and he bolted across the room, pulling Vlad to his feet.

"Where is he Vlad, where is he?" he yelled. Vlad's eyes grew wide.

"H-how did you know I was coming?" Before Daniel could answer, the floor below him cracked open. He threw Vlad backward, and leapt into the air. He cupped his hands together and pumped every fiber in his being into a single blast.

The black armored Dan rose from the floor, and Daniel let go. The blast pierced straight through the would be demonic king, who looked down at his chest in surprise, and faded into nothing, black particles floating away. Daniel floated back to the ground, panting.

"It's finally over" he said with a tiny smile as he looked back at his confused family and a confused Vlad.

"Is it?" He looked up, and standing before him was the devil himself, the soul shredder plunge through his chest. Daniel gasped as he fell to his knees, green and red blood pouring from the wound. Dan leaned in close to him and whispered into his ear.

"I thought that I told you, I'm inevitable". Then the room around him disappeared into nothing but black, and his family and friends bodies convulsed as if they were being slashed a hundred times with a sword at once. The bloodied bodies fell to the ground, and then Daniel felt a new weight on his lap.

He looked down to see Sam in his arms, blood flowing from her mouth.

"You failed us, Danny" she whispered before fading away. Daniel sat there in the blankness, no emotion on his face. And then his neck craned backward and his mouth opened not to let out a wail but a roar. A scream that would shake all of existence to its core.

He screamed and screamed in agony and sadness. There was a sound of shattering glass and he was once again wearing his armor. The sword of unity on his back. And then a long crack formed along the nothingness, and it shattered. For through the ghostly roar, Daniel was free.


	28. Chapter 28

**Ok, this is later than I had hoped, as usual. But I've been really busy lately with the school play, homework, I made the honor roll! And life in general has just been plain hectic lately. Its kind of been depressing reading stuff on this site, it feels like no one updates except for like in six month intervals. Well, now you finally get to see the climactic battle between Daniel and Dan, as well as the revelation of the prophecy, although the prophecy may sound cheesy. Note I do not own the song Dance with the Devil, Breaking Benjamin does.**

**LINEBREAK**

_Here I stand, helpless and left for dead  
Close your eyes, so many days gone by  
Easy to find what's wrong  
Harder to find what's right_

The entire room began to shake, as the ghostly roar erupted from the orb that contained Dan's twisted version of reality. Great cracks crept up the bloody walls, spreading to the ceiling. Danny looked up at Dan, and saw in his face something he'd never expected to see, shock. The roar continued, and in it they could hear all the pain, and all the anguish that filled Daniels heart.

A misty fog flowed from the cracks of the orb, covering the room in dark shadow. The sound of shattering glass filled the chamber as the orb exploded, spraying a cloud of sharp projectiles in every direction. A dark figure stood in the fog, his features completely blocked out, except for his eyes. Daniel stepped out of the fog, his eyes aglow like beacons of anger, sadness and hope, filling the whole room with bright green light.

_I believe in you  
I can show you, that I can see right through  
All these empty lies  
I won't stay long  
In this world so wrong_

The sword of unity was in his hand, and it was suddenly aflame with power. Daniel and Dan looked directly into each other's faces, green eyes at red, angel at demon. And then Dan spoke barely above a whisper, his thin face devoid of emotion.

"So, this is it, isn't it?" Daniel nodded his agreement.

"Yes. Now. You. DIE!!!!" At the same moment the two combatants launched into the air, breaking through the ceiling as if it were tissue paper. Danny felt the restraints that held his feet down disappear as Dan no longer used any energy to maintain them. He turned to see his family and Tucker had also been released. There was a groan behind him and he turned to see Sam conscious, rubbing her head in pain. He started to run to her side but she had other plans.

"GO!" she yelled, pointing upward at the battle high above them. Danny hesitated, then launched himself into the air, following his two futures.

Both Dan and Daniel had their weapons raised above their heads, each shining brightly, one green, one red. They charged at one another, blades clashing together with unimaginable force. They exchanged blow after blow, explosions erupting around them every time the swords made contact.

_Say goodbye  
As we dance with the devil tonight  
Don't you dare look at him in the eye  
As we dance with the devil tonight  
Hold on, Hold on_

Danny didn't know what to do. He could fight, he was powerful, but this, this was insane. It was only now that he realized he hadn't seen either Dan or Daniel REALLY fight. And now the two of them were battling like gods, their full fury finally unleashed.

The two fighters broke apart, leaping backward, increasing the distance between them. Simultaneously their blades were lowered, and their free hands thrust forward, and from each exploded beams of energy. The two beams met in midair, struggling against one another for dominance. The beams dissipated, and then Dan and Daniel were at each other once again, blades meeting.

Far below them the battle between the ghostly army and the demonic forces continued on. The ghosts had pushed past the gates, and now fought in the doorway of hell. Danny could hear the blast of Embers guitar as she shattered the ears drums of the infernal army.

Dan turned his head to look down at the war as he battled his counterpart. He removed a hand from the hilt of the soul shredder and waved it in the direction of the battle. Danny watched as the demons shifted position, forming a circle around the ghosts surrounding them.

_Trembling, crawling across my skin  
Feeling your cold, dead eyes  
Stealing the life of mine_

"Help them!" Daniel bellowed as he battled the devil. "Help them, he's mine!" Danny wanted to argue, he wanted to help take down Dan. But there was no time to argue, and every second he waited both battles came closer and closer to being lost. He dove downward, hands out in front of him, raining ectoplasm into the demons exposed back.

"Good to see ya Dipstick!" Ember called to him from the heat of the battle, her hair free of its ponytail, surrounding her like a fiery cape. Technus was wearing a customized suit of armor designed like a D.O.O.M character, except this one was very different from Sam's character, now appearing to be a bulky lab coat with a dozen or so weapon attachments.

Danny hacked away at the demons, entering the fray. Then out of nowhere an icy spear the size of a telephone pole impaled the demonic dragon inches away from Danny's left temple.

"We have come to join you, Great One!" a deep voice that he'd recognize anywhere rang out. Danny looked up the see a fully armored Frostibite and his yeti army enter the battlefield.

_I believe in you  
I can show you that I can see right through  
All these empty lies  
I won't stay long  
In this world so wrong_

The two armies were now evenly matched, and as Dan was distracted high above, no new demons were being spawned.

"How does it feel Dan?" Daniel hissed as he lobbed meteor sized energy balls towards him. "How does it feel to be losing, how does it feel to know that you are not omnipotent, that you are mortal?" Dan used the soul shredder to slice the oncoming attacks in half, sending his own volley of chaotic energy back in response.

"Mortal?" he grunted from his fanged mouth. "I, mortal? You still do not understand, Daniel. I. AM. A. GOD!" he raised his hands high above his head, and instantly the demons below began to shriek. The entire demon army began to disintegrate, forming a cloud of dark red particles. Dan took a breath, and the cloud flew instantly into his flared nostrils.

Dan's horns became longer, his pale skin became blood red, and the aura that surrounded him became pitch black as he absorbed the essence of every demonic creature in existence. He turned back to Daniel, his eyes now lacking pupils, now only bloody rubies.

"Now Daniel, it ends". Daniel raised his sword preparing to fight to the death, but Dan did not attack. The devil raised both hands, and brought them swishing downward. Instantly a dark hissing portal opened, that began to suck at the chamber of hell like a black hole. Danny watched as Daniel was forcibly sucked inside, and felt himself being pulled in.

_Say goodbye  
As we dance with the devil tonight  
Don't you dare look at him in the eyes  
As we dance with the devil tonight  
Hold on, Hold on…….. _

**LINEBREAK**

Danny opened his eyes, and what he saw nearly made him faint. They were in space, high above the earth, the moon high above them. He looked down at the earth, which was no longer green and blue, but red with the corruption that Dan had brought upon it. He realized he was on top of something, and turned to see that he was standing on a large flat rock, surrounded by a red barrier.

His family, Valerie, Tucker, Sam, Skulker, Vlad, Dani the Mansons, and Frostbite all surrounded him, all looking just as shocked and confused as he was, and right beside him was Daniel.

"So here we are" Dan called out to them. They looked up the see Dan looking down at the planet below, a strange longing in his soulless eyes. "We always wanted to be an astronaut, but now that I'm here it feels so empty".

"I am the king of hell, the infernal lord, master of darkness. I rule all, I am the supreme being of the universe, and yet I feel nothing". He turned to face his counterpart, his face expressionless.

"The earth is the nexus point of all existence, the source of all life that flows into adjacent worlds and dimensions, and I rule it. The cycle ends now, I am the earths ruler, and I will do with it as I will. Prepare yourselves, for now, everything comes to an end". He waved his hand, and D

Dan raised his hands once more, and above him began to form an energy ball that's size surpassed the moon. It was black, and looked like some kind of dark sun. It looked as if it were alive, and had a life of its own. With a great heave Dan sent the dark bomb spinning towards the earth, and looked down at Daniel once again.

"Now, existence ends".

"What do we do?" Danny asked the silence. No on replied, their eyes full of tears as all hope faded. Daniel fell to his knees, stabbing the sword of unity into the rock beside him.

"So I failed again" he whispered. "I'm pathetic, and now nothing can save us, not time, not anything" Danny felt his stomach drop. Daniel ad given up, and if he felt that nothing could be done, all was lost.

"Oh magnificent one" Frostbite spoke, approaching the hybrid, placing his large clawed on his shoulder."It is time that you read this". He placed the tattered scroll into his gloved hands, and slowly backed away. Daniel looked down at it, as if unsure of what to do with it. After a few moments, he fumbled for the ribbon wrapped around it, and read.

It was a long silence as Daniel read, and when he was finished, he surprised all of them, he smiled.  
"So that's it, isn't it?" he asked, looking over at Frostbite. He smiled, looking down, before looking up at all of them.

"Well, good luck everyone, this is the end, I hope we see each other again someday".

"What do you-" But before Danny could complete his sentence, Daniel had leapt upward, puncturing the dome that surrounded them, and flew directly towards the mass of energy headed straight for earth.

"He's lost it!" Tucker yelled out.

"What's he doing?!" Sam shrieked, her voice filled with panic.

"I…. I don't know" Danny whispered.

"Great one" Frostbite said as he bent down to pick up the discarded scroll that Daniel had dropped. "It is your turn to know the truth. Danny felt the parchment being pressed into his grasp, and it was with a heavy heart that he began to read.

_Three beings of great power, separate yet born as one  
Born a boy, gifted with the power of the spirits  
In the beginning the three shall walk the path of power together  
The first fork in the road will split them  
And they shall become boy and demon  
The boy and Demon shall clash, and the boy will strike his demon down  
The third shall become the man, future of the boy, reflection of the demon  
As the path of power comes to a close all shall meet  
Man and boy will unite against Demon, the man wielding the powers of unity  
And then the demon shall unleash his wrath, and the mans strife will end in sacrifice  
As the man and demon become one, the boy will take on the mantle of unity  
Together man and demon will be slain, and the boy shall become the man_ _  
_

"No….no!" Danny yelled, dropping the parchment, watching helplessly as Daniel flew out towards his doom.

"What is it Danny?" Sam asked desperately, coming to his side.

"He's going to sacrifice himself!" Sam's eyes filled with horror, and all at once the crowd within the dome screamed and called out to their friend, but he did not respond.

Daniel found himself between the black star and the earth. He reached into his armor, and pulled from it a green stoned ring. He held it to his lips in a silent prayer, and gazed back at his younger self and the girl who would be his wife.

"Good luck kid" he whispered.

Daniel Phantom spread him arms out to his sides, emitting massive discs of solid blue energy around his hands. He slammed them forward, directly into the star, and the star became narrower, he was going to take the entire blow. He closed his eyes and held his hands together, as the star made contact with his body, and Daniel lived no more.

The star was gone, and in the place where Daniel once floated was a cloud of blue and green dust, the essence of the phantom. Dan cackled as Danny and his comrades screamed, and bellowed in agony. He opened his mouth, and the blue green cloud flowed into it.

"Don't you see now?" Dan asked as he landed within the dome, a smirk upon his face. "He had to be the noble one, had to give his life, and now he has given me the key to omnipotence, the key to the power that will not only allow me to end this universe, but to bring down every timeline, every reality. I will destroy the omniverse."

He raised his hand and the sword of unity flew into his grip, and this time it did not reject him.

"It's a pity you will all die beforehand". He raised the sword, dropping the soul shredder from his other hand. Danny wrapped himself around Sam, his family and friends preparing for the end. But the end did not come. Dan's strike had stopped midair.

He raised the sword again, but once more, but the strike was once again incomplete.

"What is going on?" Dan asked, astonishment clear in his voice. There was a loud crack as one of Dan's horns snapped off. Blotches of his skin ceased to be read, and became a natural peachy color. One of his eyes ceased to be red, and became bright emerald green. The devil clutched at his head in agony, as he fell to his knees, everyone staring at him, not having any idea what was going on.

And then Dan's head raised to look Danny straight in the eyes, and spoke not in the cool sadistic voice of Dan, but the harsh and desperate voice of Daniel.

"DESTORY HIM!!!"


	29. Chapter 29

**Well everyone this is it, the final chapter of the story. I want to thank all those who put this on their alerts and favorites lists, and I want to thank all of my reviewers, who've been really cool to me. Well, I don't know how long this'll be, but enjoy. And if you like my work, I'll be writing an x-men evolution story soon. Here we go!**

**LINEBREAK**

"Destroy him!" Daniel repeatedas he continued to writhe in pain, battling Dan for control of their shared body. Danny felt as though the bottom had dropped out of his stomach. What was going on?

"W-what?" he stuttered. The being before him lurched violently, its skin changing back and forth between pale green and peach colors, its fiery hair dying and rising up again randomly, its eyes flashing between green and red. Danny could see Sam and his allies standing ramrod stiff, frozen in terror.

"I'm taking control for as long as I can!" Daniels voice shrieked from his shared mouth. A hand flicked forward, a pulse of energy bursting from its fingers, sending the sword of unity skidding across the rock floor, coming to a stop at Danny's feet. "Take it!" Daniel cried as he reached a violently shaking hand to his chest, peeling back the black armor plates to reveal pale colorless flesh.

"You think he can do it?!" Dan's voice echoed from his open mouth. "He is weak, you honestly believe that he'll kill you?!"

"He'd kill you!" Daniel's voice replied as his shared head jerked to the side, as if he were arguing with the angel and devil on his shoulders. "Kill me!" he begged as he jerked his head back to face Danny.

"I-I cant kill you!" Danny cried desperately, eyes flashing back and forth between the being before him and the sword at his feet. How could he possibly be expected to kill Daniel, even if it destroyed Dan? He was the greatest mentor he'd ever had.

"I told you he was weak!" Dan's voice shouted triumphantly. "You cannot hold me forever!" The two spirited body continued to shake as the two halves fought for control.

"Do it!" Daniel screamed as a horn erupted from the top of his head and the red in his eyes began to dominate the green. Danny looked down at the sword of unity, the most powerful weapon in existence. He sank to one knee, and took the sword into his hands.

The effect was instantaneous as golden light enveloped Danny. He felt his hazmat suit being stripped away and ghostly metal forming in its place, and he could feel the power of the blade flow through him as it accepted him as its wielder. The light cleared, and Danny stood there sword in hand, now covered in Daniels armor.

He slowly raised the blade as he looked into two sets of eyes in one, half good, half evil. And for one to die, the other must as well.

"I'm….I'm sorry…." Danny choked out as tears came into his glowing eyes. And with that he thrust the blade forward. The voices of Dan and Daniel screamed as the sacred metal pierced their shared fleshed, screamed as limitless power poured into them, as every one of their molecules was set aflame.

Suddenly the conjoint phantom launched into the air, punching clean through the energy barrier that surrounded the floating rock, which sealed itself immediately. They rose higher, eclipsing the sun as they roared in agony, shaking the universe to its core. And then their head craned backward, and they gave off a final cry….and exploded.

The group within the barrier screamed as white light engulfed them, the explosions magnitude rivaling that of the big bang. Then there was nothing but silence.

**LINEBREAK**

Danny lay on flat cool surface. His head hurt, and he'd never before felt so tired. His eyes fluttered open as he pushed himself off the ground. The teenage halfa was on a white plane, completely devoid of anything, and anyone. Spinning around in all directions, he looked for any sign of life, any sign of anything.

Where was he? Had he died? Is this what happens in the end, you simply fell off the plane of existence entirely?

"Hello Danny" a familiar voice said behind him, taking him so much by surprise he nearly leapt out of his skin. Danny spun on his heel see Clockwork floating beside him in his adult form, his staff firmly within his right hand. For along moment Danny just stared at him, not having a clue what to say, eventually deciding on the first thing he could think of.

"Where the hell am I?" the master of time chuckled lightly.

"Nowhere in particular" Clockwork answered flatly, snickering at Danny's dumbfounded expression. "I just needed a place to explain things to you before I set things right."

"What do you mean, set things right?" Danny asked.

"Dan has been destroyed, utterly and completely" he replied. "Now the earth can be set back to normal, and all those who suffered by Dan's hand will forget."

"Forget!" Danny exploded in anger. "So you're telling me you could have done this all along, that you let Daniel sacrifice himself for nothing!"

"Nothing?" Clockwork said, his voice becoming deathly serious. "Dan has been destroyed and cannot come back in any way, shape, or form. He did what he was destined to do. He travelled through time to prevent a horrible future, not for himself, but for you, so that you and the ones you love will never have to experience it."

There was a long pause.

"So, everyone will forget any of this happened?"

"Not everyone" Clockwork answered. "If you wish you, your family and friends may remember, and Vladimir will be permitted to move on to the afterlife, as he will be rejected in the world of the living" Danny nodded, but his gaze fell to the ground.

"Do not feel guilt about the death of Daniel, he gave his life by his own freewill, nothing you could have done could have prevented it".

"So that's what the prophecy meant, huh?" Danny asked looking up into the eternal ghosts eyes. "He was always going to die, and I was always going to be the one to do it." Clockwork nodded. Danny's gaze fell once again in grief and guilt. It had been fate that he was to destroy his greatest teacher, and everything he had ever hoped to become.

"But the prophecy also stated that 'the boy would become the man" Clockwork said sagely. "You are the Danny Phantom of the true timeline, of the true universe. It was Daniels purpose to mold into the hero you were destined to become." Clockwork gave a rare smile. "And in all my years, I've never met a better one".

He raised the staff above his head, and gears and clocks formed around them as he manipulated time and space.

**LINEBREAK**

Danny opened his eyes, and nearly fainted. He was standing behind the podium in the center of Amity park stadium, half a dozen microphones before him, and thousands of people waiting intently for him to speak. In the audience Sam, the Fenton's, Manson's, Foley's, and Valerie were stricken in their seats looking around frantically to see how they had gotten there.

Danny spluttered through his speech, and rushed out the stadium as fast as he could. In the limo home everyone demanded answers, and he told them all that he had seen. They believed him, and wanted to know more, but did not question him further.

The limo pulled up to the Fenton's home, and the Manson's agreed that given the circumstances, it was okay that Sam stay the night. Danny and Sam retreated to his bedroom, and lay in each others arms.

"It just feels weird" Danny confessed after remaining silent for a long while. "It's as if none of it ever happened at all"

"I know" Sam agreed, nuzzling her head into his chin. "But it seemed so real, I remember it all so clearly".

"I guess that's Clockworks doing" Danny said. "But it feels like I did nothing, like all the fighting, and Daniels sacrifice meant nothing. He's the real hero here, and no one but us can even remember him".

They fell silent once again, and before long they had fallen fast asleep.

It felt like only moments later that Danny was prodded asleep. He eyes creaked open to see a glowing blue orb about the size of a tennis ball floating above him, bouncing against his forehead in an attempt to wake him up. It seemed to notice he was awake, and flew straight at the bedroom window, phasing right through it.

Danny phased himself out of Sam's embrace, and flew after it. He followed it over the town before it led him to a familiar hilltop. He landed, and the orb stopped at his chest level. He raised a hand to catch it, but it disappeared with a pop.

"A lot of memories here, huh?" a voice said behind him. His battle instincts kicked in and he spun around energy blazing in his fists, but the face he saw illuminated in their light made his jaw drop. Standing before him, completely unharmed, was Daniel, dressed in armor, not of black technoforming plates, but of shining gold.

"B-but your-"

"Dead?" Daniel finished with a grin. "You know that's a really lose term". And then Danny gasped as huge, shining wings of pure light expanded themselves on Daniels back, giving him the full appearance of the angel he was.

"Y-you're a celestial, aren't you?" Danny asked, it was the only thing he could be. Daniel smiled.

"They gave me an offer I couldn't refuse, my timelines gone, and with them I can have all the adventures I want". He placed a gloved hand upon Danny's shoulder. "You did good kid".

"But I killed you"

"It had to be done, now Dan's gone, and you're free to live your life, you've got so much good going for you Danny". Danny looked up into his own green eyes, and smiled as the celestial phantom rose into the sky and disappeared in the sunrise. Now the future lay before him, and he was not afraid, because he knew he had a guardian angel watching out for him. And whatever happened, he'd be okay.

**Thanks everybody, hope this chapters ok!**


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